Raleigh motus 400 watt battery

[Wheats56]

Hi I have a raleigh motus grand tour I have done 800 miles on it mainly short journeys around 3 miles at a time and I weigh 14 stone.
My problem. Is when I first got the bike and charged the battery when looking on the control panel and set to eco mode it said I had a range of 60 miles I found that worrying when they advertise 110 miles range but. Now when charged it comes up with range of 30 miles.
I know this depends on conditions what mode etc. But it is no where near the advertised range. Has a anyone else come across this and if so what did you do about it. Thanks Pete.

[stodd]

The advertised range is 'up to' in ideal conditions.
And the difference between 'up to' figures and real figures is much greater than you might expect.
Responsible advertising does not push this 'up to' figure.

If you look on https://www.bosch-ebike.com/en/service/range-assistant/ you will see how different factors effect range.
Set it up to eco, with environment flat, mostly good asphalt, windless, summer and you will get around 106 miles range. (even more with fast tyres and a bit less weight).
Change to hilly road with poor quality, moderately windy winter and up the total weight to 115kg and it is down to 50 miles (still on eco)
Tour mode takes that to 30 miles. (that's about what I what to see in real life on my Motus)
Obviously the assistant isn't perfect, but it is amazingly good.

Unfortunately the only practical thing you can do about it is to adjust your expectations (maybe with help from the range assistant).
Or lose a little weight and ride slowly in eco mode on perfect surface flat roads on windless summer days.
Or ride at 18mph, You won't get any assistance, but you'll get endless miles of battery.
~~~
Another gotcher is that the range shown on the display depends only on the last mile or so's ride; not on a sensible amount of history.

Mine started at 35 miles this morning; my last ride had ended with a mile mostly downhill to home.
1 mile up hill to the shop and it shows 25 miles. (not the top of the hill, and not that big a hill either ... Winchester)
1 mile back from the shop and it shown 30 miles.

[Wheats56]

Thanks for your help, I have tried to keep it on eco just to see the results and admittedly my 2 or so miles is very up and down, but I am now going to try to keep it on eco for the last mile or so to see what it reads next time.
I am just a bit worried when the good weather comes and I want to do longer journeys but then again longer rides might read completely different. Thanks again

[stodd]

The thing that will increase range most is to keep it in eco wherever you can; that will usually give 70% or so extra range over tour according to the assistant.

Eco means you do 2/3 work and it does 1/3: tour means the work is split 1/2 each.

Enjoy your rides when the better weather comes.

[saudidave]

I've got a Raleigh Motus Grand tour with the 400Watt battery (2019 model year bike).

When fully charged it used to show a range based on what I presume was the previous ride. Usually that was somewhere between 60 & 90 miles in eco.

Of late, that appears to have changed and it invariably displays 66 miles range in eco. When I start to ride it in eco, the range starts to rise as I ride and it will usually climb up to around 90 miles. A couple of days ago it climbed to 88 miles range when Map My Ride on my Apple watch said I'd already covered 9 miles, suggesting a range of 97 miles was achievable. When I finished that ride I topped up the battery to full again and the display said 93 miles range. Before I set off on my next ride I reset the display and again it changed to 66 miles!

Dave

[stodd]

There are different aspects of the display that can be reset (at least partly) independently.

I'm not sure exactly how the power to the display works, but maybe (???) its internal battery is getting low so it is resetting itself between rides, but then behaving right once repowered externally. That could explain the change in behavior.

Apart from reset, the range seems to be based on the last mile or two, regardless of whether that was part of this ride, part of a previous ride, or a split of the two. As I said above, if your ride is at all hilly the displayed range will change absurdly, and for nearly flat eco rides wind will make a big difference too.

It would be a lot more helpful to have a more precise battery % usage display rather than just the five bars; which I'm pretty sure the system must know internally. Also to have the battery number of charges easily available to the user rather than locked down as a bike shop detail.

[saudidave]

This is the bit that confused me and I suspect you have misunderstood

" When I finished that ride I topped up the battery to full again and the display said 93 miles range. Before I set off on my next ride I reset the display and again it changed to 66 miles"

So, it says 66 miles range. I set off riding and it climbs up to 88 miles with 9 miles already covered. I got home, recharged it and it said the range was 93 miles. I then reset it immediately after the recharge and it dropped from 93 miles range to 66 miles

[stodd]

Exactly. It generally works on recent history. It seems your riding is pretty even and light on the battery, giving around 90 miles range. After the recharge it still remembers the end bit of your last ride to know how fast you use the battery, and it can see the battery is full, so it gives you 90 or 93 or whatever miles.

If you reset it clears the history, so it reverts to what it thinks will by 'typical' as it has nothing else to go on, eg 66 miles on eco.

My bit about the display battery being low causing a reset is probably irrelevant. I had understood it went back to 66 miles without your doing anything other than recharge (eg no reset); it appears just to be your manual resets that put it back to 66 miles. Has it ever gone back to 66 miles without your resetting?

By the way, I think you can reset the trip distance without resetting the range history, but need to double-check that.

[saudidave]

I've been out today in the leafy lanes of Cheshire. An undulating ride, no big hills. I currently weigh 14 stone.

I went from my Home in Poynton to Hale barns via the airport link road, Bowdon, Dunham, Lymm, High Legh, Pickmere, Knutsford, Ollerton, Alderley Edge then back to Poynton; a total of 48 miles. I did the last 10 miles mostly on tour because my Arthritic right knee was hurting a little, but prior to that 95% of the time I'd been in eco.

Bottom line; I did 48 miles, at the end my range in eco was displayed as 22 miles, so it's reasonable to presume a 70 mile range in similar conditions.

I've just done a full recharge and it is now saying the range in eco is 86 miles which substantiates the above. I intend, once the coronavirus issue is over and my work returns, to buy a 500 Watt battery and then I can do similar journeys through Derbyshire, without range anxiety, retaining the 400watt as the backup

Dave

[nez]

Having the tyre pressures correct can have an effect on the range of an e-bike and can easily lead to variations

[saudidave]

It can on any vehicle. The Schwalbe Marathon +[list=][/list]von my bike are running at 90 P.S.I.

[saudidave]

It can on any vehicle. The Schwalbe Marathon + on my bike are running at 90 P.S.I.

[Bazang]

What do you think of the Raleigh Motus as an ebike? Are you pleased with it?

[stodd]

We are pretty pleased with ours: 2nd hand older (2016) model with hub gears. Road and easy off-road. Mostly run on Tour mode, Eco if feeling energetic, Sport if hitting hills at the end of a ride, and Turbo once in a while just for the kick of it. (It's a kick to me; for lots of adrenalin types wouldn't call it a kick, but then they wouldn't buy a Motus.) Probably getting a bit over 30 miles on the slightly aging battery; never allowed it to run right down to check.

I do not like the Magura rim brakes that came with the hub gear versions: a real pain to adjust; I'm not sure if the current versions still have those. Awkward adjusting the back wheel to get correct chain tension: again a hub gear only issue and I think resolved in later models.

[Glesgaguy]

Hi

First post on here.

Can anyone advice how easy it would be too:

1, run two 400 batteries?
2, Would a 500 Battery fit straight on?

Thanks