New to eBikes - is this possible?

[Astrotraveler]

Hi folks. Just finished a shakedown ride of my new and (first ever) ebike, an Aventon Aventure. I must be doing something wrong or my bike does not correctly report charge remaining. Let me explain.

I completed a gently rolling hill out-and back route, covering about 15 miles. I used PAS 2 mostly and PAS 3 maybe 15-20% of the time, with very short periods in PAS 4 to summit the two taller hills, and one brief stint in PAS 5 to try it out. The bike is still in Level 2 mode; not unlocked to Level 3 potential as of yet.

As you can see from the image below, the 15 mile circuit consumed only 2% of the battery. Now I am reasonably fit, but honestly I wasn't working very hard on the pedals. Is it possible that using the settings I describe, and pedaling with what I would call "medium" effort (I never stood in the saddle on any climb), that I used only 2% of the battery?

During the ride it would drop down to ~97% when I was using PAS 3 and 4 on climbs, but with sustained pedaling in the flats and on the downhills by me, the charge indicator would go back up to 100%.

Mystifying.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Vinz]

From what you described, I would say things seem OK.
I don't have an Aventon, mind you, I converted my pedal bike to an ebike last year. But today I did just over 18 miles on a full charge of 54 volts. When I got home the battery was at 52 volts. (I use battery voltage rather than percentage on my display.) I think that comes to a 3.7% drop - but I was using throttle quite a bit, as well as PAS.
And yes, the voltage will momentarily drop when the battery takes on a load - that's just a battery thing.

 

[pjgoeman]

My experience with the Aventure is that the battery percentage drops slowly at first and then drops at a faster rate as the percentage goes down. Your results mirror what I see on my bike.

 

[Astrotraveler]

Thank you both. This is encouraging in that given my relative fitness level and what I find comfortable in terms of a sustainable all-day pedaling pace, I should easily meet or possibly exceed what I'd expected in terms of range per charge.

Aventon's "real world" range guidance had me a bit worried as to whether I would truly be able to get to and back home from my hiking trailhead (~40 mile round trip) on a single full charge. For a 180# rider covering 80% flat terrain using PAS 2 and travelling 16mph, Aventon suggests a 45 mile real world range. Looking closely though their numbers assume operating as a Level 3 bike. It seems like the range per charge is longer with the bike set to Level 2. Interesting.

Incidentally I just got back in from a 27 miler using mainly PAS 3 and got pummeled by hail on the last mile to home. I did not recharge from the ride yesterday so I started with 97% charge. With weather coming in I used PAS 4 and PAS 5 on the last 3-4 miles. Charge remaining at the end of the ride was 84%. That's nuts, but in a good way. Very happy with the range per charge at this stage. Also found a public dock for launching my kayak that I was unaware of until this ride.