1000km on electric power

Apr 22, 2011 18:07


In November I bought an electric scooter to get me to my new job, a 10 mile commute each way. I can do this by bicycle in about an hour, or by walking and subway and bussing in 1.5 hours, or by scooter in 35, or by car in 20 (all best times without traffic). The scooter pretty much has a cruising speed of 25 mph. On a good day I can sustain 30 mph on some stretches of read. Downhill with a tailwind I once got it up to 35 mph.

The batteries don't do well in cold. Below 40F the performance is noticeably worse for acceleration and hill climbing and top speed sustaining.

I take my charger to work, and charge the batteries (they have to be removed from the scooter to charge) in the office. It's supposed to have 40 mile range, but now I suspect that to be some engineering ideal on a flat stretch without stopping. In the cold with traffic and hills it can feel sluggish around the end of the 10 mile ride between home and work. The longest I've done in one charge is 20 miles, and at the end of that was some slow going with sluggish acceleration and I couldn't really get it over 20 mph. But even at the best of times there are hills on my commute that I can't do over 20 mph, and on often only 15 mph.

I always ride with one eye on the gauges. The battery gauge shows me how hard I'm taxing the system while accelerating or going up hills. I think if I keep that moderate I can get better economy and range out of it. I'm pretty sure that the first weekend I had it and took it out I ran out of battery because I was riding it too hard. I haven't run out since (it does have a cutoff dead end), just run down to go slower.

Still, the fuel cost per mile is low (about one or two cents), the device new was cheaper than most cars I could get, and it's faster than biking or bus. I'm gonna keep calling this experiment a qualified win. If it gets to 10,000km it'll definitely be a win.
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