Carrying a "Get Home" backup battery ?

[eltee]

I am waiting for my first eMTB to be delivered. I am wondering if folks sometimes pack a second, smaller and lighter battery as a "get me home" battery?

 

[honkinunit]

My legs are my "get me home" battery.

Once you ride for awhile you'll get a sense for how hard you can lean on the battery depending on the length of your ride.

BTW, spare full sized batteries are really expensive. Shimano is $700, Bosch is $900. I'm sure that Yamaha is similar. The batteries actually have a lot of electronics built in, they aren't like a car battery.

 

[Leebherron]

Giant Panasonic battery was $500...

 

[eltee]

The dealer offered a second battery the same size as the one that comes with the bike for $475.00. He is looking into the pricing and weight of a lower capacity battery.

 

[MikeTowpathTraveler]

If the regular, high capacity battery gets you "out there", where you run out of juice, I'm not sure what the cheaper, lower capacity battery is gonna do for ya in getting back under battery power.

The trick is to ride the bike and get a feel for real mileage numbers in each Power setting, so there will be no surprises.

As poster Honkinunit said, mainstream batteries are a considerable investment. And there are no mainstream manufacturer's batteries out there that are low in capacity. And because of that, you would be paying near a grand for a 500wh battery in those brands. 475 seems quite low, and I do question the watt hours of that battery and how far it's gonna get you away from homebase. Good luck and keep us posted as to what you do.

Btw, what kind of ebike are you getting?

 

[Tracer16]

I have a spare battery for my Levo. It's heavy but I remove the bladder out of my camelback and carry 2 water bottles on the bike

 

[eltee]

I ordered this one but in matte black from Perry's Power Bikes in Camden, NY. Bafang Ultra motor.

 

[MikeTowpathTraveler]

Not a bad looking bike. And $475 for an extra 778wh battery seems to be a nice deal. I'd be tempted to go with the extra battery. Impressive Bafang motor specs, too (160nm of power). Definitely looking !forward to reading your ride reports and overall impressions

 

[PierreR]

That bike should ride very decent without power. Another battery might be good if you plan on any long trips where you want to cover a lot of distance in one day or go places where charging points are far apart. $475 is a very good price depending on battery technology.

 

[eltee]

I ride a lot of areas with loops and shortcuts and not always linear so if my battery dies even one with less capacity could get me back. New to these and just running ideas out here among the experienced eMTB riders.

 

[eltee]

Assembling and getting ready to ride.

First ride actually scared me, I didn't think there would be so much torque. Impressed with the power. Once I get used to everything I should be good.