48v give greater range?

[Gooseman]

I have a 36/48v controller and screen so was wandering if i purchased a 48v 13ah vs a 36v 13ah would i get a 30%ish increase in range if i kept the speed limited to 15.5 mph? Or is it just a torque increase i would experience?

 

[sjpt]

With the same capacity battery (in wh = v * ah) you won't see significant difference in range if used the same.
You may be tempted to drive the 48v system a little harder and get a little less range.

With the same ah you will get bigger capacity with more volts, hence more range.

48v*13ah = 624wh, 36v*13ah = 494wh.

 

[Gooseman]

With the same capacity battery (in wh = v * ah) you won't see significant difference in range if used the same.
You may be tempted to drive the 48v system a little harder and get a little less range.

With the same ah you will get bigger capacity with more volts, hence more range.

48v*13ah = 624wh, 36v*13ah = 494wh.

So currently i have my controller set to 15amps max on 36v = 540 watts and if i reduced it to 11amps max on 48v it would give me 528 watts, running it like this would give me better range and torque or will loose the torque because i have lowered the amps?

 

[vfr400]

How much range you get depends on two factors: 1 How many watt-hours you have; and 2 how fast you use them.

If you used only full throttle and had 15 amp controllers in each , they would last equally long in time, i.e. 13/15 = 0.87 hrs, but you'd be going faster with 48v because you have more power, so you'd cover more distance.

If you had two identical bikes and riders, one with a 36v battery and one 48v, both 13AH, and you rode side by side, the 48v battery would go 30% further.

If you use the increase in torque, it will use up watt-hours at a faster rate.

In practice, you can keep the controller set at 15 amps. When you're riding, you can adjust the power with the throttle and/or PAS setting, so go as fast or slow as you want, but at least you'll have the extra 30% power when you need it.