Does anyone have any real world experience of max normal day ride range with a Sonder el Camino e gravel bike please - website says approx 70km but then there are some reviews saying they only got 20km on a road commute ? Planning one for Mrs but don’t want to end up with something that only does short rides ?
thanks !
Its always going to be very variable depending on the way you ride adn the terrain. My ebike I can get the best part of a hundred miles on the flat at low power. High power and hills under 40 miles Thats a 750 whr battery
If I found the right bike its a 250whr battery. I think 70km is optimistic but maybe achievable low power / flat rides.. I had another ebike with a 375 whr battery - range on that was 8 ( Yes really!!!) miles to 40 miles
how long is a piece of string?
So i can offer some experience from a bike i had, boardman adv 8.9e, again 250w motor, 250 battery.
on the road the bike would be mostly under leg power. excepting for this hills and pulling away. The fitter and lighter you are the further you will go. I never had range anxiety, i had a vague indication of how much juice i had left, and if i was getting low i could choose to run it out and rely on leg power, or choose a lower power/turn off and keep it entirely for when i needed it.
That being said, they usually have decent customisation options for the power delivery.. flipside of that is its far too easy to go full power and just plod along
I know I could rely on it to do 45miles/ 800ft and have a little extra left on my commute.
As above, it varies with terrain and how much you use the assist.
My Ribble Gravel Al-e reports over 200km range when fully charged. (250kwn battery)
Recently did a 90km ride from Bexhill in sea to Folkestone, along the coast. It's almost completely flat,apart from a stiff climb, out of Hastings, and another out of Folkestone to the Premier Inn. I still had about 70% charge left.
The inland return trip was much hillier and, after a recharge in the hotel, the 90km return trip resulted in 45% left.
During my first big trip (Dorset Dirt Dash - very hilly) I wasn't sure how things would pan out, so was ultra careful but, after having loads of charge left, I've now become quite confident about the range.
It really is rather good
I’ve got an El Camino - It can do approx 50k on one charge with sensible use of the assist. It’s a reasonably light e-bike so can pedal on the flat easy enough without assist. I really like mine
they have launched a range extender which I thought about but it’s pricey!
Thanks all and especially albacookie for real world experience, also a new review on bike radar saying similar about range - cheers
Final decision was changed by visiting the Ribble showroom in Clitheroe where some very nice bikes changed my mind to the CGR Al e - also great local experience from the sales guys there who had ridden demo models in various terrain with various battery usage results.