Ezee/Panda comparison

Benjahmin

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 10, 2014
2,460
1,675
69
West Wales
Apples and pears really, but I thought it might prove useful, so here goes.

The Panda is the Eco kit front hub, paired with an Insat 36v battery. It's mounted on a Silverfox hybrid with 700c wheels. 21 gears, rim brakes (Magura front). Solid forks.
Ezee Mk2 is on a Carrera crossfire3, led handlebar control and is paired with Ezee 36v battery. 16 gears, discs with hydraulic front, suntour xtc forks.
I carry more gear on the Carrera, and it's got discs and suspension forks, it weighs in at about 24Kg.
I think the Silverfox is about 20Kg.

Obviously the Ezee is physically much bigger and it's sheer hill climbing grunt cannot be matched by the Panda. However, on the flat in setting 3/3, the Panda zips along at a surprising 16-18mph. The Ezee would have to be in 4/5 to do this so using the battery quicker. The Panda cuts of at 18.5mph (you can hear it go), the cut off and switch back on seems smooth, no sudden surprises. The Ezee never seems to cut off. Practically, the top speed is about 19mph however, pedalling at say 22-24 mph you can still hear the motor rotating. Stop pedalling or slightly pull the brake on and you hear it stop. You feel power start to mean something (bite) from about 16mph downwards.
The Panda really doesn't like going below about 9mph. It gets increasingly growly as you get down to 7mph, at this speed there is an extra higher frequency too and vibration through the bars (maybe this would be helped by a sine wave controller?). This is where the Ezee scores. The gearbox note does change on hills but nothing serious. It's only on the steepest hills (say 1:5-1:4) that I would be below 8mph, even then it copes admirably. Never felt it get even mildly warm and certainly never stalled. (This is all with me pedalling as much as I can, no moped riding here;))
I've done about 4000 miles on the Ezee with only a case bearing problem, which John helped me sort pdq. Apart from that the whole thing has been bullet proof. Battery going strong after nearly 3 years and 200 charges.
Only done about 200 on the Panda so can't talk to the reliability. Ditto the Insat battery. It's had 16 charges now (I use it on both bikes) and seems fine. It has the Boston power swing cells by the way.
I live in a very hilly area and I'm an old git, so the Ezee would be my choice. I actually like it's attack, it's not subtle when it kicks in, and it's like having a helping hand, in the small of your back, going uphill. But for younger fitter riders or you live in gentler terrain, the Panda would make a great lighter weight fast commuter or agile leisure bike. I use it for shorter round the valley floor rides. I occaisionally enjoy the extra zip.
The quality of both kits is good. I've had to change nothing on the Ezee. The controller is built onto the supplied rack and all wiring is long enough without being excessive. Pas disc is right fit so crank puller needed, mines fitted in place of the granny ring. Plug and play kit.
The Panda controller goes in it's own supplied tube mounted box. This I had to change. The internal space was too tight and the lid screw threads couldn't handle the pressure of wiring pressing against them. Simply sorted with a £3.50 ABS box, now mounted on the rack. Panda wiring is long and they supply a triangle bag for the excess. Pas disc is the split type, left fitting, so no crank puller needed. Not a fan of these split discs, mine kept slipping on the shaft giving intermittant assist. It's taken two mods to stop it slipping, OK now. Apart from that it's a plug and play kit.
My feeling is that the Ezee is, overall, the more robust of the two, but then it's the more expensive and may now be very difficult to get.
Lifes a trade off!
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
A lot of those differences can be more attributable to the controller than the motor. If you want a true comparison of motors, it's better to use the same controller and battery.

Your Ezee motor is running with 20 amps and the Panda 15 amps(?), so you'd expect a substantial difference in climbing power. The true difference seems to be the winding speed. It seems that the Panda motor is wound for a higher speed. That also has an affect on low speed power, but then it gets more power at high speed. High speed hub-motors often growl at low speed, but it depends on which controller you use.
 

Benjahmin

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 10, 2014
2,460
1,675
69
West Wales
I think you're right, the Panda controller is 15A. Unfortunately neither motor has any markings on it (not even 250W?), so don't know the winding code.
However, if someone is looking for a plug and play kit I hope the comparison might help.
Don't get me wrong, the Panda is a good kit and I see that, currently, the Pro kit is £250 + battery. What's not to like? It's just that I've been spoiled by, inadvertantly, choosing the mighty Ezee as my fist kit. First love and all that!:rolleyes::cool:
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
It's a great comparison of the two kits. Thanks.