5.1.6 Range
The range is the distance you can cycle using power assistance on one charge. This depends on many different factors that can be divided into 2 groups:
•Capacity and condition of the battery
•The cycling circumstances and the state of the bicycle.
A summary of matters that have direct influence on the distance that you can ride:
1.Age of the battery: when the battery gets older, its capacity becomes less. So, with a brand new, well charged battery you can ride a larger distance than with a battery that is 1 year old.
2.Number of battery charges: the riding range decreases after a number of battery recharges. Partly this can be compensated by “refresh charging” (see section 5.1.3).
3.The temperature: the performance of the battery depends on the temperature. When it’s colder, the battery’s capacity is reduced, so you cannot reach the maximum distance with your Lafree.
4.The wind: easy to understand that, when you ride with strong head wind, the Lafree uses more energy than without wind, so the reach becomes shorter.
5.The terrain (flat, steep hills, slopes, pavement): same as previous point (4), if you ride uphill or on rough pavement, the engine uses more energy than on flat or smooth roads.
6.Rider’s weight and luggage: for a light rider without additional luggage is less energy required than for a heavy rider or a rider that carries luggage.
7.The number of stops and starts: riding in heavy traffic or in the city with lots of traffic lights means that you have to make much more stops and starts compared with riding in the countryside. Because of the energy consumed during acceleration, the riding range becomes shorter when the number of stops and starts increases.
8.Clever use of gears: energy (form the rider, but also from the battery) will be saved if the gears on the bike are used in the correct way. Especially accelerating and riding uphill should be done in low gears,
in the same way as driving a car. Start riding in 1st gear and, when speed increases, shift to 2nd and 3rd gear. This helps you to save energy and to increase the range.
9.Quality and state of bicycle components, such as
-tyres with too low pressure or well inflated tyres.
-a dirty, corroded, dry chain or a clean and well lubricated chain.
Poor maintenance increases the resistance and the extra energy required empties your battery quicker.
It may be clear that it’s very difficult to say how far you can ride with your power assisted Twist with a full battery, simply because there are too many factors that have influence.
Under the best possible circumstances, you can cycle
•max. 25 ~ 35 km. in “normal” mode
•max. 30 ~ 40 km. in “ECO” mode.
In “Eco” mode, the assistance power is about half of the normal mode. It could save the energy consumption and extend the range. The “ECO” mode saves energy consumption and extends the range with approx. 50%. Trip distances mentioned here are just a very rough indication. In some cases the power assistance stops already before the 20 km. mark is reached, while someone else under other conditions may be able to ride more than 40 km.
Short summary of recommendations for a high range:
•Charge the battery under room temperature (15 ~ 25 degrees C.)
•Try to ride the battery as empty as possible before
•
•Use the gears while accelerating or riding uphill
•Don’t ride with too low tyre pressure and keep the chain clean and well lubricated.
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