Empulse R mileage...

[Gavin]

So I don't have a variety of measurements yet...but I thought we could have a thread to keep track of basic mileage.

For city riding I am riding mostly in 2nd gear and in non sport mode (I love Sport Mode...but the regen is a bit much for city stop and start driving). I am getting almost exactly 1 mile per 1% of battery...So 100 miles of city riding per charge. Which is cool and easy to gauge range for city riding...that does raise one point that I will make in a separate thread.

Haven't done enough highway riding to have that data yet, but hopefully I get a nice ride this weekend.

Gavin

[frodus]

I get about 1mi/1% for most trips. Heavy riding on highway and twisties I get less.

[Shinysideup]

I ride 5 days a week 12 miles into work and around San Francisco all day long, and then back home at night. So each day's commute is approximately 2/3 highway and 1/3 city (with lots of hills). On some mornings, the freeway is backed up and I split lanes, 30 mph in 1st gear, so that isn't quite highway driving on those days.

I almost always ride in Sport mode, and, knowing I have plenty of juice for my day, I like to ride with a fairly heavy throttle most of the time.

When I get home on some days, I divide my SOC used by miles driven.

Yesterday was the worst because of very high winds and my need, to make an appointment, to drive fast on the freeway. The number was 1.892.

Other days are: 1.422, 1.711, 1.318,
1.374, 1.613, 1.643, 1.691, 1.516, 1.362.

Average is 1.554, or about 1.5% of charge for every mile, making my range about 75 miles, which is darned closed to the 77 mixed hwy/city range I've seen published.

I totally agree about highway mileage be the more meaningful.

My SWAG is that fast charging, especially really fast charging of supercaps, will be the solution, rather than improved batteries, which will always mean more weight for more range.

Despite Range Anxiety, at 3000 miles, my daily Brammogrin still grows.

[frodus]

It would be useful if the Brammo had a Wh used display, in addition to %SOC. That way we could calculate exact numbers for Wh/mile (used industry-wide). We know we have seven 15V 90Ah batteries (~9.45kwh).

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

I'm getting about 4.5 miles/KWh according to my Killawatt and my mileage tracking app (~45 miles/charge). If I'm milking it I can get over 6, with my best ever of 6.38miles/KWh with temps ranging from 50 to 65f. That was with about 5 miles 60mph highway over 94 mile total trip with an average moving speed of around 40 mph and several partial charging stops. I would not trust it to go over 55 miles on a single charge, even keeping it in normal mode and riding with what I consider a light hand. I have also found that the SOC runs down very quickly as it gets towards empty. At 6% SOC, I've had it start to slow down from 55mph (I was a half mile from home). I've had it error off with 2% SOC and had to cycle the ignition to get to my charging point at the far end of the parking lot (I started that trip with 15% and 7 miles to go...and barely made it going 40mph). I am really looking forward to the firmware update...and warmer weather!

All that being said, I do ride it pretty hard most of the time. My round trip commute is 34 miles, and I have been getting home with less than 20% remaining. That's riding almost WOT from stops, and cruising for about 12 miles each way on interstates going an indicated 75 to 80mph. That is flat Chicago, though. If I were scared about getting home, I would not be going so fast.

[Virtually Yours]

I do what Shiny is doing. I take the % of SOC used and divide by mileage. So this week I'm averaging 1.37% per mile. Vast majority of my riding is city driving in Sport Mode with speed limits @ 45 and 50 mph. I try ease into the throttle cruising between 4-5k rpms shifting at 5k rpms and ususally not getting passed 3rd gear. Sometimes I need to get on the throttle a little heavy to get away from an occasional idiot. So I would most likely get 70 miles to a charge but tend to charge when my SOC is around 20%. Of course that depends on where I need to go the next day... On a side note this past weekend I replaced the air in my tires with nitrogen. It was $20 with free top offs for the life of the tires, so I said what the hell lets see if it helps but who knows...

[Shinysideup]

On a side note this past weekend I replaced the air in my tires with nitrogen. It was $20 with free top offs for the life of the tires, so I said what the hell lets see if it helps but who knows...

Helps what?

[Virtually Yours]

On a side note this past weekend I replaced the air in my tires with nitrogen. It was $20 with free top offs for the life of the tires, so I said what the hell lets see if it helps but who knows...

Helps what?

http://www.getnitrogen.org/sub.php?view=cheaper

Nitrogen Takes You Farther

Nitrogen in your tires maintains proper pressure, which keeps the recommended “contact patch” on the road longer and reduces rolling resistance, which translates to better fuel economy. In fact, properly inflated tires can improve your gas mileage by about 3.3 percent. That’s a savings no one would scoff at.

But that’s not all. With nitrogen maintaining more consistent pressure, your tires won’t wear as fast on the shoulders from under-inflation or in the center from over-inflation.

There’s more. By replacing oxygen with nitrogen, there is less oxidation. Oxidation occurs when oxygen reacts at high temperatures and pressures, and it damages inner liners, belt packages and rims. In fact, some tire manufacturers claim nitrogen use extends tire life as much as 25 percent.

With nitrogen, you won’t have to have your tires serviced as often and, in the long run, you’ll buy fewer tires.

[Shinysideup]

Thanks. I also found this, which is a pretty good explanation...
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/repair-questions/4302788

I can see the utility of this for fleets of large trucks; for my bike with a good gauge and hand pump next to it in my garage... not so much. But who knows - I may run into a shop that will offer free top offs and that'll grab me!

[Shinysideup]

Mileage spreadsheet available...

I've made a nifty spreadsheet for my logging, complete with pretty colors and a graph of the results.

I decided to invert the formula so I get miles per one percent of SOC and express the result as a percentage. That way I can look at a remaining SOC and multiply it by my current median results (64%) and guess my range. I can use higher or lower percentage guesses, based on the type of driving I intend to use in the immediate future.

After 17 entries, my best figure is 82%, city driving only. My worst is 52.9% just the other day in very high winds on the freeway. (75 mph into 45 mph headwinds, tucked behind no windscreen!)

Since there's no file storage on our forum, I'd be happy to email this sheet as an attachment. Just PM me with your email address, if you're interested. It's in Excel xlsx format.

[flar]

Hi Shiny,

Try Google docs.  I think you can make a spreadsheet shared in a readonly manner, and it should import Excel files easily...

http://docs.google.com/

(For readonly sharing, click on Share, Who has access/Change, click on anyone with a link and make sure it is set to "can view", and save the new permissions - and the link on the first Share page).

[frodus]

After riding to and from work, I charged it back up then went back out and did a 46.2 mile ride that was almost ll highway. Started with ~99% and ended with ~17% SOC... which is the deepest discharge I've done yet (most times is never more than 50%). I was going around 65 the whole way and it was slightly windy with no cars in front of me to block wind. I was not crouching at all.

46.2 miles ridden
99% - 17% = 82% change
82% / 46.2mi = 1.77% per mile
That'd make my range right around 56 miles at that speed.... which is right about what they say for Highway driving.... pretty happy with that.

[Shinysideup]

Try Google docs.

OK, try this:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlKcXffl9-nzdGlFSjNKUXVodnFKaEc5U2d4VnV2c0E&usp=sharing

You can go to the "File" menu and choose "Download as" where you can pick the format you want.

As an example, I left my data populating the spreadsheet, showing 27 trips so far, with some comments.

Note that in order to create the log entries in column E, click cell D2 and copy it. Then go to the bottom of column E and click in the first available cell. Then click the "Paste special" item in the "Edit" menu dropdown and choose "Paste values only".

(In my Excel version, I recorded a macro to paste the values only.)