It starts in the morning before the tour: How many metres of altitude do I have to climb? Can I do it with my battery? As an e-mountain biker, you spend the whole day calculating and worrying about whether you can actually complete the planned tour with the available battery capacity. And if the battery really does run out in the middle of a climb, then it's push or turn back. Such situations can be prevented - here are the most important tips for planning your tour.
The range, or rather the "range altitude", is the only real limiting factor for an e-tour today. Any reasonably well-trained biker can manage around 1500 metres of elevation gain per day on a normal bike. Today's standard e-bike battery does not even have enough "juice" for this moderate workload. With the standard 400 watt hours (Wh), a biker weighing 75 kilos can manage around 1200 metres in altitude - a little more or less depending on the riding mode between Eco and Sport. With the new 500 Wh batteries (from Bosch, for example), this is 20 per cent more, i.e. a good 1400 metres in altitude. But even with the even larger 600 Wh batteries, such as those offered by Brose in some bikes, a long e-tour is only possible to a limited extent. It is true that the same normal biker, who can manage 1500 metres in altitude without a motor, would achieve about twice that with motor support - not only is he faster with the E-MTB, but he also saves power. But the prerequisite would be that the battery capacity would also be sufficient for these kilometres and metres in altitude. In other words, the available battery capacity is not sufficient for a long tour with 2500 to 3000 metres of altitude that is easily achievable without carrying a spare battery in your rucksack. But: An extra 2.5 kilos on the back - that's not everyone's cup of tea, not to mention the cost of the second battery.
800 metres in altitude per hour is easily possible with the E-MTB if you don't take any breaks. A normally trained biker will have run out of battery after around one and a half to two hours on a continuous climb. Unsatisfactory, as you sometimes want to sit in the saddle for much longer. Recharging is often impossible because there is simply no hut or inn nearby. Example: The Tremalzo (1850 metres in altitude) or the Monte Altissimo (2050 metres in altitude) - Lake Garda classics that you could easily manage in terms of power with an e-MTB. However, these tours are not possible with today's batteries.
The sheer range is hardly a limiting factor - with one battery and the lowest driving mode, you can usually manage over 100 kilometres on flat terrain. Much more important are the metres of altitude covered. This is because the motor needs a lot of energy when climbing, and the biker usually uses a higher support level here. With an e-mountainbike, the range altitude is therefore the decisive, limiting factor when planning a tour. The vast majority of normal bikers who switch to an e-drive would be physically capable of covering 2500 metres in altitude or even more on a tour. The technical prerequisite would be a battery capacity that is sufficient for this - i.e. 800 to 1000 Wh. Then you wouldn't have to recharge or change the battery during a tour.
At least nowadays you can get by with a spare battery in your rucksack for a long day trip. The costs are painful: around 500 to 800 euros over the counter. A bike with a permanently installed, non-replaceable battery is not recommended for long tours anyway, as the time required for recharging (3-4 hours) at a hut or inn is simply too long. Apart from the fact that you would then also have to carry the charger in your rucksack.
Due to the current limitation of battery capacity, a Transalp tour is also difficult to organise and requires special logistics. Carrying a spare battery in your rucksack is almost impossible, as the rucksack is already filled with all the other things you need for a stage tour. So you absolutely need a support vehicle - with all the effort and costs involved. Even if e-MTBs with large batteries are offered in the future, there is still the question of the charger. Today's chargers are also usually too bulky and heavy to carry in a rucksack. They would have to be smaller and, if possible, integrated into the e-MTB or even the battery.
The battery consumption and thus the range height depends on many factors. First of all, there is the riding mode that you use uphill. Well-trained bikers will ride in Eco mode on flatter climbs, although Eco mode usually only just compensates for the higher bike weight and additional riding resistance compared to a normal bike. If you want to make faster progress and really utilise the advantages of the E-MTB, you will ride in Tour or Sport mode, depending on the steepness of the climb, which will of course consume more battery. Turbo mode (Bosch) should generally only be used on super steep ramps, because although it brings the heart rate down, it rapidly drains the battery.
Body weight also plays a decisive role. In our experience, a 50-kilo lightweight will achieve around 40 per cent more altitude with the same battery than a 90-kilo rider. If a heavy rider with a 400 Wh battery can only crank up 1200 metres in altitude, a light biker can manage just under 1700 metres. As a rule of thumb: You need five watt hours more per kilo of body weight. So it's worth losing a few kilos. A lightweight bike also pays off in terms of reach height.
However, other factors play a role in addition to speed and weight: rolling resistance, for example. Pedalling uphill on very rough surfaces will consume more battery than on asphalt. And if you also ride with fat or plus tyres and low air pressure, you will consume even more - at least on asphalt. In our experience, these effects add up to around 20 per cent. As a result, the altitude range drops from 1200 to less than 1000 metres.
And finally, there is the range: If a tour has a total length of only 25 kilometres with an altitude difference of 1200 metres, you will probably manage this. If these altitude metres extend over a total distance of 50 kilometres, the battery indicator will probably start flashing before the end of the tour. This is because even on flat or slightly ascending sections, battery power is consumed.
All these circumstances make the e-biker constantly ponder during a day tour: Will I make it or won't I? Anyone who has ever had to ride a climb, however short, with a flat battery will shudder just thinking about it: It's like operating a dough kneading machine with your feet. This means that if the battery on the bike is empty, the batteries in your legs will soon be too.
The worry in the head, the constant calculation of the range height during the tour and the need to save batteries often burden the e-biker to such an extent that the enjoyment is considerably impaired. Manufacturers could do away with all of this in one fell swoop: all they would have to do is offer larger batteries. Even if you're not aiming for 3000 metres in altitude, you would at least have the reassuring feeling that you can always take a spontaneous detour on a tour or switch into turbo gear if you feel like it. Manufacturers need to ask themselves: Why is the customer buying an e-MTB? To save energy or to have fun?
Of course, a more powerful battery is heavier, larger and more expensive. The weight argument can be relativised: A normal battery plus spare battery would be heavier than a single battery with a correspondingly higher capacity. And the extra weight on the bike is always better than the spare battery in the rucksack. There would also be space for a larger battery in the frame triangle of modern e-mountainbikes. And finally, all manufacturers are working on ways to practically integrate the batteries into the frame tubes.
The higher price for the larger battery remains. A larger battery will probably be cheaper than two small batteries are at the moment. It would be up to each manufacturer to offer two or three different battery packs at different prices - smaller sizes for lighter people or bikers who mainly ride on flat terrain, more powerful versions for heavier bikers and long tours.
However, manufacturers will not be able to fulfil the demand for larger batteries until 2017 at the earliest. So what does the e-biker have to do at the moment to manage his extended day tour with a battery? First of all, there is meticulous tour planning. You have to choose a tour that does not exceed 1200 to 1500 metres in altitude. Good tour guides or websites with precise tour data offer very good help here. Be careful with free tour exchange portals - you may be in for a nasty surprise when it comes to the altitude metres, as the data is often not checked.
Tours that only have one long climb are also best suited to the E-MTB. If the battery is used up before the top of the pass, you can roll back the same way if necessary. Tours with two consecutive climbs where the elevation profile looks like a saddle are risky. If the battery dies on the second climb, you're trapped. Then you have to push in both directions.
In addition to careful tour planning, the following applies on longer tours: economise. As an e-mountain biker, being economical with electricity must be second nature to you - and it starts on the flat. Tours often have an approach on the road or cycle path. Here, it is best to ride without the motor at all or at most in Eco mode. E-mountainbikes without a battery, where the motor is completely decoupled from the bottom bracket (Brose), offer an advantage here. Although you will notice the additional weight of the e-bike when accelerating, the e-MTB rolls like a normal bike when travelling smoothly.
In addition, you can make travelling on flat terrain easier in a group by having the lighter bikers - who will therefore use the least battery on the tour - cycle ahead in Eco mode and provide slipstreaming for those following behind. A small savings effect can also be achieved by inflating the tyres as hard as possible before setting off in order to keep the rolling resistance as low as possible - at least on asphalt. Before turning off-road, reduce the air pressure again.
Your own riding economy also offers potential for saving energy: when climbing, it is of course best to always stay in the lowest possible gear. A good indicator for upshifting is your heart rate. If you ride with a heart rate monitor, you can see exactly how the human motor revs up on steep inclines. Only when you reach the anaerobic threshold, i.e. between 130 and 150 heartbeats depending on your age and condition, is it advisable to shift up to the next gear.
As soon as the opportunity arises, you should switch down the assistance level - on flat stretches or slight climbs. On descents, you can switch off the motor completely, as a little bit of power is always consumed even when pedalling lightly. Take short counter-climbs with momentum. Don't use turbo mode at all. All these small measures require attention, you have to constantly look at the display and often change the riding mode dozens of times during a tour. This is tedious, but sometimes you can suck over 200 extra metres of altitude out of the battery. E-mountain bikers who stick to these rules won't need a cable car or shuttle - and can rightly claim that e-mountain bikers only ride with their own power.
CONCLUSION (by Uli Stanciu):
Range is the general problem with e-mobility today. Anyone thinking about buying a purely electric car has to accept considerable limitations: With a BMW i3, you can manage an average of 150 kilometres, after which the car has to go to the charging station - and that takes time. When the lights go out on an e-bike, you can at least still get around using pure muscle power. This makes it all the more important that the motor system does not consume any power when pedalling without battery support. However, the long-term solution for the bike industry lies in the size and performance of the batteries. Manufacturers must recognise that the significantly limited range and altitude of current e-mountainbike models do not meet the needs of end users in the least. 1200 to 1500 metres in altitude - that's the end of the tour after two hours. And then? I can only recommend every manufacturer to test their own products on long tours in the Alps. Then they will recognise the urgency of this problem.
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ENERGY MANAGEMENT
Driving on tarmac helps to save energy: The lower rolling resistance on smooth surfaces sucks considerably less juice from the battery.
You can use a rest stop in a mountain hut for a quick recharge. Prerequisite: You have the charger in your rucksack. It takes three to five hours to fully charge the battery.
Playing it safe on long tours means putting a spare battery in your rucksack. You have to put up with an extra two and a half kilos of weight.
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