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[NanoMech]

My wife and I have enjoyed riding our 2014 DS bikes through the redwood forests on the southern San Francisco peninsula. She has an 11.4 DS and I have the powertank 14.2 DS. Mine has the sporty windscreen and the "torque" 25T drive sprocket, all that add drag, weight, and moving the motor into the less efficient part of the power-torque-rpm curve.

My wife and her bike weigh approximately 485-500 lbs. My bike and I weigh approximately 585-600 lbs, approximately 20% more than my wife.

She has ridden approximately 200 miles and her app indicates a power usage of 84 watts/mi. I have ridden 1300 miles, approximately 6-10% at freeway speeds of 70mph, with the rest in the same conditions as her riding and my app usage indicates 106 watts/mi.

So, under these conditions (terrain, speed, weight, bike mods), it appears that power usage closely tracks weight with ~20% more weight translating to ~20% more power requirements. A moderate component associated with the powertank weight would indicate the powertank provides ~20% more power, or just enough to offset the additional weight increase, of which ~40% is powertank related.

[Justin Andrews]

Thats seems about right. From my basic knowledge of the physics involved, in terms of power required, weight and aerodynamics are roughly linear to speed, while the speed of the vehicle through air is quadratic (which is why streamlining gives the best improvements in range).