How To Extend Your Electric Bike's Battery Range
One of the biggest concerns of an electric bike rider is how far you can ride on a single charge. Learning how to manage your battery life is an essential skill. It allows you to explore further, but it also makes it possible to get home safely. So, in this post, we will go through some top tips on how to extend your electric bike's range.
1. Tire Choice
The tires on your electric bike make a significant difference in how efficient it is. You need to make sure your tires are fit for the riding you generally do.
Electric bikes with wide tires with sticky compounds give you lots of traction. However, they have an increased rolling resistance over narrow tires with a harder compound.
If you mainly ride your electric bike on the streets, you don't need big fat tires. So, choosing narrower tires will allow you to ride further. However, if you ride off-road or mountain biking you should still choose grippy tires for safety.
2. Use Your Pedal Assist Correctly
One of the main aspects of extending your electric bike's range is managing the levels of pedal assist. All Story Electric Bike’s include 5 levels of pedal assist. The lower the level of assist for example at level 1, the less battery consumption you’ll be using since it’ll be giving you less overall power. On the other side, level 5 will be giving you max power draining the battery faster.
Choose level 1 or even zero when you’re on very flat surfaces to save battery. When climbing hills start to choose higher levels but think of brining those levels back down once you’re at the top!
3. Save Some Weight
Weight makes a massive difference to how far you can ride your electric bike using the motor. Extra weight means the motor needs to work hard, calling more power from the battery.
You can't always leave things behind. However, if you ride with a bag or backpack, it is worth going through it to see what is necessary. Leave anything you don't need at home to drop a few pounds. For example, do you need to carry a spare battery for your journey?
4. Check Your Tire Pressures
If your tires are softer than they should be, thanks to low pressure, they have a higher rolling resistance. Just like carrying too much weight, rolling resistance eats battery power. Therefore, ensuring your tire pressures are correct will ensure they are as efficient as possible.
5. Learn How To Brake Efficiently
One of the key things of maintaining battery life is managing your speed. If you brake hard, you will need to use your motor to get back up to speed, which uses power.
Keep your eyes on the road ahead of you and slow down gently when approaching traffic lights etc. You may not even have to stop when you get there, which means you save battery power. Think about stopping and accelerating smoothly in the same way you would drive a car economically.
Final Thoughts
Each one of these techniques will make a difference to your electric bike's range. However, you will get the best results if you use all of them together. By following these tips, you won't get stranded or have to pedal a heavy electric bike with no power. The great thing about Story Electric Bikes is that they’re already so light that even if you do run out of battery, the ride how will still be easy because it’ll like a regular bike!
