You may be thinking, “what lithium battery and electric bike kit combination will best meet my needs?” On this site alone there are a number of combinations to choose from, and this page is meant to help you make an informed decision. Before we start, however, please make sure to consider the product warranty. Some dealers state how great their systems are, but then turn around and provide a very limited warranty, which should tell you something about their confidence level in their products.
Please note that we discontinued the hub motor type known as a direct drive. Direct drives have no planetary gears, are bigger, heavier, less efficient, and have magnetic drag when just pedaling. Direct Drives were the first type of hub motors made and proved very durable; however, in our nine plus years of business we have found the planetary geared motors to be just as durable and offer significant advantages that the majority of our customers now come to expect. For our current complete electric bike conversion kit systems go to our shopping page. Update as of February 2016: We now offer both the complete 36V and 52V system with the same high-end geared motors now providing 700-900 watts of peak power at 36V and 1300 watts of peak power at 52V!
Optimum Efficiency
The 36 volt Lithium battery with the high-end geared hub motor kit is the optimum solution for many riders. It completely free-wheels
and has negligible resistance when under complete pedal power. At 36V it goes 18-19 mph on flat ground under its own power. The 52V system goes approximately 25-28 mph. The total electric bike kit with battery weighs only 14 lbs at 36V with the 10H batter and 20 lbs at 52V. We have customers reporting 40+ miles of distance per charge, but 24+ miles is a good conservative figure. Our kits come with a 20-25A controller for maximum torque when needed. Often suppliers provide smaller geared motors with 12-15 amp controllers because that is all their motors can handle. With a 36 volt battery, a 14 amp controller will only deliver approximately 500 watts of peak power (14 x 36). The 20-25 amp controllers we use with these kits provide 700 watts of peak power at 36 volts and 1300 watts of peak power at 52V. So why not use higher amps for even more power? More amps means more heat, etc., which will wear out the motor more quickly. Also, good lithium batteries like ours are rated to operate at 25 amps continuous and 40 amps peak. Not so good ones out there are rated much lower. Additional amp hours will allow for higher amperage draw, but every amp hour adds to the cost and weight of the battery.
Best of All Worlds
Our high-end geared motor kit combines the best of the smaller geared motors with bigger windings and bigger gears. It is made to be very efficient with negligible resistance, run at 52 volts, climb very steep mountains, and provide speeds of 25-28 mph on flat ground. This system will run at 1300 watts of peak power with its standard 25 amp controller (25 x 52). Yes, it is the highest priced model, but still significantly less
than any comparable system out there. You can expect around 25 plus miles per charge with our 52V 12AH lithium battery depending on terrain and starts/stops. 9-level pedal assist with detailed display is now the standard option. It provides more efficiency and monitoring of the system. So you now have the ultimate electric bike kit solution at an unmatched price! Customers that use the automatic pedal assist feature to limit the amount of power utilized routinely report over 40 miles of distance per charge.
Double the Distance
Consider multiple batteries for long distance riding. We have customers that put a battery in each saddle bag on the rear of their bike. With two batteries and the geared motor setup, 60 to 70+ miles on primarily flat ground is very doable. This would be the ultimate Go Car Lite experience! FYI that amp hours (AH) is the battery’s fuel gauge. Ours are 12AH; I’ve seen others advertise 10AH batteries or less getting 50 or 60+ miles. That would be possible if you barely use it, but what fun is that. More amp hours (AH) means more distance, but it also means more cells, more weight, and higher cost. Our 12AH batteries are the optimum balance weight, distance, and cost!
Whatever you decide on, it is worth the time to do some homework and learn a little bit about how things work. A good quality setup will give you years of enjoyment with only very minor upkeep. There are plenty of reputable electric bike kit providers and plenty more that don’t really know much about what they are selling. Whether you buy from us or not, we want people to take advantage of the great benefits an electric bicycle can provide; it quite literally can be life changing! Have more questions? Contact Doug, the owner of Electric Bike Solutions, at the numbers and email below:
[email protected]
(707) 290-9764