My electric bicycle was a hand me down from a friend who had upgraded to a newer li-ion model. He just retired and was frittering away some of his pension lump sum! A 2002 model, the original lead-acids were shot, but as they say, never look a gift fractional horse-power in the mouth. I priced up an upgrade to li-ions, as they are half the weight and offered greater range. Price for 36 volts @ 12Ah [+ mandatory new charger] was $600,
- over a third the cost of a new bike, so there's a warning! I opted for new lead-acids, at $150 [use existing charger].
It does 15 mph max. Range without pedalling [I don't pedal, why keep a dog and bark!
]is about 20 miles. No idea what it costs to charge, but being so low-powered [150W motor] it's peanuts. I do keep it topped up, never exhaust the batteries [it has a cell condition monitor] and keep it frost free. I'll be honest- it's a toy!
