Electric mountain bikes, which are one of the most popular models of ebikes for sale, are sweeping the whole market. In most ebike forums, there are so many threads talking about electric mountain bikes, including all kinds of questions covering almost every aspect.
About the range of an electric mountain bike, the answers will be different. Some people will tell you 30- 40 miles per charge while others may say that it is wrong. Who knows? With different emtbs and riders, nobody can give you an exact number. So in this article, we are going to let you know how exactly your electric mountain bikes can go, and also, the way to calculate their range.
How many miles can an electric mountain bike go?
Averagely, an emtb can go 25 - 50 miles per charge. Of course, it is just an estimation. A lot of factors could play a key role. So, below are some aspects you have to take into consideration while calculating the range of your electric mountain bikes.
1. Battery Capacity
Different sizes of batteries provide different battery capacities. A battery is usually measured by voltage. The more voltage a battery has, the larger capacity it can provide. We can always see 48V and 52V batteries on the market if you often google electric bike batteries. And as I said above, compared with a 48V battery, a 52V battery is absolutely offering a longer range. By the way, 52V batteries can offer more power to ebike motors, which is its another advantage over 48V batteries.
52V Magicycle Cruiser Pro
2. Fat tires or thin tires
Tires have a huge impact on your electric mountain bike range. It is quite a simple rule. With fat tires, your electric mountain bikes can be way heavier, which leads to a shorter range. When it comes to thin tires, this situation is going to be the opposite, meaning more range. However, we don’t mean to say that fat tires are not suitable for long-range riding. These two kinds of tires have different benefits respectively.
3. PAS and throttle
It refers to the way you use your ebikes. Obviously keeping using throttles can be really fast, but it is going to consume your emtb’s energy the most rapidly while using PAS (pedal assistant) only can save you the most battery capacity (unless you want to pedal on your own.).
4. Weather and terrain
Weather affects road situations. Rainy days make streets and roads slippery, and snowy days can make it tough for an ebike to move forward with snow getting in the way. These circumstances consume more of your battery energy. And snow ebiking requires more power from your motors. To know how to ride electric mountain bikes in winter, please check out our blog.
Well, many of us tend to calculate the ebike range with only motor power and battery capacity and forget that ebike tires have a huge impact on that. Regular thin tires are light and won’t add up to much weight on your ebikes, but they lack grip and may not give you a nice riding experience while riding off-road. Then, when it comes to fat tires, those bumps and rocks won’t make any difference, meaning more comfort, but fat tires are usually heavier and bring much more rolling resistance, which can affect your ebike range.
Also, we found that keeping using the throttle on your electric mountain bikes can burn the battery capacity faster compared to riding only with PAS. The full-power model is fun honestly, but if you want to make your ebikes go much more miles, you’d better reconsider.
Weather can influence ebike range. For example, when it is rainy or snowy, there can be more resistance on the roads. In this case, you need more motor power to maintain a constant speed.
How to Calculate the Range of Electric Mountain Bikes
There is a general rule that an electric mountain bike cost about 20 watt-hours to run 1 mile. You may ask what watt hour is. It is the amount of energy that a battery can store. To calculate the watt hours of your batteries, you need to multiply their voltage by amp hours. Dividing the result by 20, you can get to know approximately how many miles your electric mountain bikes can travel.
By the way, this is just a simple way of calculation. And the results can be different from what you have expected. As mentioned above, a lot of factors need to be considered when it comes to the range of an electric mountain bike.
The overlooked factors that determine how far your electric mountain bikes go
We know you can always hear that there are a great number of factors out there affecting ebike range. However, you may overlook some things that are most decisive.
Frequent Stops and Starts
Generally, an electric mountain bike motor needs to use more power to brake when it is going to stop or accelerate to a high speed. So obviously, frequent stops and starts can consume pretty much battery capacity.
Moreover, while commuting in urban areas, there are many situations where you must stop and start frequently. In other words, riding emtbs in heavy traffic can contribute to a shorter range.
We don’t mean to ask you to keep riding without braking. To keep safe, you must stop whenever it is necessary. Safety is always the top priority. If you really want to avoid this dilemma, the only may be to improve your riding skills.
The Age of Emtb Batteries
No matter how advanced the technology is applied to your battery, it can wear out and become older. The older the battery is, the less capacity it has, which means you will inevitably get a shorter range.
Although battery aging can be avoided, you could take some proper measures to maintain your emtb batteries, making sure you can make the best of them. For example, you are supposed to overcharge them or use them until they are dead totally, which can result in great damage. To get more tips about battery maintenance, please check our blogs.
Which electric mountain bike has the longest range?
There are many ebike brands you can choose from. And most of their electric bikes for adults are equipped with 36V 15Ah or 48V 15Ah batteries, providing a range between 25 - 40miles. Also, a few manufacturers offer batteries of 52V and 20Ah that are going to give riders more range. Taking Magicycle Ocelot Pro as an example, it is one that is equipped with a 52V 2Ah battery. It can reach a range of 60 to 80 miles. So, in my opinion, to purchase the longest-range electric mountain bikes, you could pay more attention to 52V 20Ah batteries.
