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[oobflyer]

Protomech - I haven't been using the Kill-O-Watt meter recently - I only used it initially to see how much current I was drawing with each charger. So, I don't have before and after data to compare.

Richard - Sounds like a sweet ride - what would you say was your average speed?

[Richard230]

I would say that my average speed was about 40 mph, although I was riding at 60 mph most of the way up the coast and against a bit of a headwind.

[Richard230]

Here are a few more comments about my 71-mile ride.  Last night my  bike required 7.5 hours to recharge the battery pack and used 6.70 kWh of power to do so.  To conserve power on my ride yesterday I rode slowly up a relatively steep 16 foot-wide road to get to the top of the mountain ridge and then rode down an even narrower and steeper 12-foot wide road in "eco" mode to return to the coast highway, passing a lot of bicycles along the way.  Where possible, I paralleled the highway along farm back roads, just taking my time and enjoying the nice weather and ranch views.  Plus, the weather was a pleasant 75 degrees and that probably helped the battery performance. 

The secret to extending your riding range is to just take your time and enjoy the ride.   

[protomech]

Yeah. Back roads are basically a free range extender.. plus they're more fun to ride along.

My longest day looks something like this, roughly 70 miles total:

0530 - 0630 20 mile round trip, early run with a friend
0630 - 0830 prep for work, etc
0830 - 1830 12 miles to work, sometimes go out for lunch or errands. No charging at work unfortunately.
1830 - 1900 18 miles to friend's house
1900 - 2230 TV with friends (Game of Thrones and Dr. Who presently
2230 - 2300 20 miles to home

I have three options if I have unexpected errands or can't charge in the morning, in order of descending preference:
1. Take a slower route. My normal route is 45+ mph roads .. and sometimes I ride a bit faster. There's only maybe 10 miles of that 70 where I have to stay on 50+ mph roadways.
2. Recharge at my friend's place. I typically see 8 miles per bar on the ride home, and I charge at 1.1 bars/hour. 3.5 hours of charging gets me 31 miles of charge, so getting home should never be a problem.
3. Go back home between work and TV with friends and pick up a gas vehicle. Doubt I'll need to do this very often, maybe once a year.

[oobflyer]

I rode 54 miles on 9 bars today, at speeds between 35 and 50 MPH. This comes out to exactly 6 miles per bar, for a potential of 66 miles/charge. Not bad.

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