Hi nasatir
With the Panasonic unit, the greatest saving of energy for hill climbing is to opt for a speed that allows you to climb on Standard power, rather than the slightly faster climb on high power. This is what I said in my Agattu review Extra section:
Reducing speed has a far greater effect than changing power modes. For example, at 7.5 mph on a 14% hill in Standard mode, changing to High Power saved me 32 watts of effort, but cost the motor and battery the same 32 watts extra. Alternatively, slowing very slightly to 6 mph and leaving it in Standard mode saved me 52 watts of effort, saved the motor 52 watts of effort as well and reduced the load on the battery.
So although going slower like that makes the motor run for a longer journey, the fact that it's only a little bit slower but saves so much power will increase the range, as well as being less demanding on you.
However, pedal at or just below the 39 cadence for maximum power, for although that uses a bit more than if you pedalled much faster, it starts to remove the point of having electric assist if you pedal fast just to save a minute bit of power. Much better is to switch off when the going is easy and save in that way without stress to yourself.
In that way I was able to achieve an over 50 mile range equivalent with average hills included at the age of 71, so many would at least equal that. I doubt if many would require such a range though.
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