My friend gets 55 minutes at 15mph with light pedal assist from his 8Ah 24v Li-on. A 6½ mile max range seems disappointing
I believe lead acid batteries are not directly comparable, but might I expect a 36v 12Ah lead acid model get me a bit further if I was only looking at distance when comparing.
Thanks
Just doing a bit of analysis on the battery energy content:
For the 24v 8AH Li-on (ROAAR!
sorry 20 month old baby in the house)
That amounts to 24*8= 192WH of energy.
Your friend get 6.5 miles from that 192WH which is 29.5WH/mile (about right I get about 36 with no pedalling)
Your lead acid:
36V 12AH = 432 WH
And if your friend were to pedal it that would theoretically last:
432/29.5 = 14.6 Miles
Looks good doesn't it?
BUT.... unfortunately you can't get ALL the energy out of lead acid batteries...
flecc knows best but I'm seem to remember its only about half...i.e. 6AH
So 36*6 = 216WH ----> 7.32 Miles
So yes you would probably get a longer range from the lead acid.
But not by much. And to top that his LiIons will last more cycles before they need replacing and are much lighter to lug around....