E-Bikes & Bikes Customised to You
Hey guys, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the e-bike and bike industry, and today I'm going to talk about how far can you expect your e-bike to go. Stick around.
All right, so today I'm going to talk about how far can you expect your e-bike to go. But before I do, hit that subscribe button below. Stay in touch with us here at six three zero... Be the first to know about all the new content we're putting out, giveaways, and of course new product releases. All right, so you're in the market for an e-bike or you have an e-bike and you're going to look up something called range, right? How far will that e-bike go? How long will the battery last? And really, that's an important number, right? Because you're thinking, "I'm going to buy the e-bike, I want to do these types of rides, and I want to know how far it's going to take me." Well, let me first say that the e-bike range published on any e-bike company's website is a range of the range, right?
So a lot of times you're going to see 20 to 40 miles or 25 to 50 miles or whatever, 50 to 80 miles. And there are a couple of variables I'm going to get into as to why. Another thing I'll say about e-bikes is the battery technology and the overall technology of an e-bike are not that of a car. If you have a Tesla or you have any other electric car on the market, their range prediction is going to be far more accurate than an e-bike because of the technology. The amount of hours that's gone into designing these batteries and also the systems that are tracking the range is not at the level of sophistication right now for e-bikes. With that even said though, I've driven many electric cars. Personally have owned three different ones and your car will typically tell you, "Here are your miles." And just like gasoline, it's not something to 100% hang your hat on.
Even in a gasoline car, it's going to say, "Distance till empty, 400 miles." We all know you take your car down to zero and you can still drive. We also know that if you drive your car strategically, you can get way more miles. You can also get fewer miles if you turn the air on if you go up big hills. The same is true of electric cars. So in e-bikes, it's even more difficult, because the battery technology isn't even as good. So on all these e-bikes here, I have a six-three zero e-bike, electric e-bike, SONDORS e-bike, rad power e-bike, four of the leading e-bike brands that are out there. And when you talk about your range, you have a screen indicator and it's usually barred. All four of these companies, that's how it works. You turn it on, click a button and it gives you bars, right?
It's not going to tell you distance till empty or miles to be ridden. That would be great if they did. We may not be too far away from that technology, but as of today, it bars on there and you may also be riding and you have a full bar, and all of a sudden, you thought you'd get longer out of it and that bar disappears and you're thinking, "Oh my gosh, what the heck?" Right? So when you talk about the range on your e-bike, and this applies to all four of the companies here, there are a lot of factors that go into the range in your expectation. Number one is how are you using your e-bike. Are you using pedal assist mode? Are you using the throttle or are you using it without the electricity? All four of the e-bikes behind me, again, the six three zero, the electric SONDORS, rad power, all three have the options of pedal assist, throttle only, or also just riding it as a standard bike.
The combination of how you use those will dictate your range. So if you're primarily using the throttle, you're going to drain that battery quickly. If you're using pedal assist, but you're in level one, which is the lowest, you're going to get more range. If you're in pedal assist level five, which is the highest, you're going to drain the battery quickly about at the level when you were using a throttle. And again, you can be in pedal assist level three. If you use the electricity, turn it off, and then just pedal the bike, you're going to get great range if you do things like that. So the uses and the combination of that are going to dictate the range you're getting. In addition to that, the terrain where you're riding is going to dictate the range you're getting. Are you going up hills?
Are you going on flat ground? I've seen in particular, when you take e-bikes on very steep hills, it's going to drain the battery very quickly because the motor is having to work harder. You're running at a higher watt output, which is therefore draining the battery because the battery's supplying the power needed to power the e-bike. So then in addition to that, if you're going up the hill and you're using throttle only, you're going to drain that battery fast. So these things on the outskirts of the usage, if you're using it in the middle, being conservative, you're going to get a very high range. If you're going up big hills, using the throttle, you're going to drain that battery very quickly, even to the point where you'll probably get fewer miles in the advertised range than the company's putting out there. And I've seen this before, if you're going up very big hills using the throttle, they might say you can get 20 to 40 miles a range.
The truth is, if you're doing big hills, throttle only, that's not the type of riding that they're expecting when they talk about range. So you're going to be draining your battery probably under the 20-mile minimum they're talking about. I'd like to point out though, the same would be true for a car. If you were to hop in a car and it's telling you that you can have 30 miles till empty or 50 miles till empty, or let's say you're charging a car is 200 miles, then all of a sudden you go drive in the mountains and all you do is drive uphill for the next hour. Your gas mileage is going to be far less than what has been calculated over the average riding that you're typically doing. So when car companies even advertise gas mileage, they're talking about a general average of what typical driving would be, not driving uphill in the mountains for two hours straight.
So just know the expectation and be aware of that. If you're jumping on an e-bike and you're thinking, "Oh, I'm going to go up these hills, I get 20 miles, normally I'll get 20 miles." That's not going to be the case. So the third thing that's going to dictate the range is the weight of the rider or the loads you're carrying. A rider who weighs 150 pounds is going to get more range out of an e-bike than a rider who weighs 300 pounds. It's just because the load and the output of the motor are going to be so much greater trying to carry a heavier person than it is a lighter person. So if two people jump on an e-bike, one person, 150, one, 300, and you're using the e-bike the same way, without a doubt, the 150-pound person will get more range out of the e-bike than the 300-pound person.
So again, that is another one of these things that are advertised with the range, and it's hard to take all these variables into account and calculate an exact range for every single person because other things come into play as well. The type of terrain that you're riding on. Again, how often are you pedaling? Again, all these different types of variables. So when you see the range of an e-bike, you just have to take that and keep in mind that these are in the average circumstances, in the average terrains, incorporating some hills, not super steep hills. And the other possibility, and I've done it before at six three zero, we have a couple of bikes and I've pushed them beyond the limits of what we advertise to customers because there are also strategies to riding your e-bike to elongate the battery in terms of when you go downhill, stop pedaling or get off the throttle.
Just ways to conserve the output, and conserve the energy that once you have an e-bike and you're up and riding, you'll learn as well. So I hope that answers the question of range on an e-bike. If you have any other questions at all, please comment below or email us at theteam@sixthirty.com or call us at (310) 982-2877. And if you're in the market for an e-bike, jump over to our website, and take the proprietary body fit quiz we have. Answer a few questions about your body and your life, and we'll recommend the perfect e-bike for you. In addition, at Six Three Zero, we have a 30-day test ride on your e-bike policy. If you don't love your e-bike in the first 30 days, send it back, no questions asked, no money out of your pocket. And before you purchase, join our Facebook Pedalers group and download our app. You can connect with other riders in advance of purchasing, ask questions, and see how they're logging miles on the app. And once you have your e-bike, post photos in the Pedalers group, and compete on the leaderboard on the app. It's tons of fun. So thank you for sticking around. And don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.