what might be a realistic expectation from the 2011 Kalkhoff with an 18 Amp hour battery do you think?
Based on my experience with a Kalkhoff Agattu and the 10 Ah battery, with the 18 Ah battery I'd expect 60 miles with ease and up to 90 miles in moderate terrain if cycling for economy.
The figures I got with the 10 Ah battery were 30/35 miles with ease and about 50 miles for economy by using standard power mode and occasionally switching off the power when the going was easy. The alternative economy method of using the Eco power setting all the time gave 46 miles for A to B magazine.
Both ways would give about 83 to 90 miles tops with the 18 Ah battery, but a powerful rider can do better. A friend of member Fecn managed 62 miles with a little left in the 10 Ah Agattu battery on a southern counties run, so he might get about 112 to 120 miles.
These reflect the automatically very high efficiency of the Panasonic system, way ahead of that of the system used by Giant in their current hub motor models. Like most e-bikes, they are very much more dependent on rider skill to get high mileage ranges.
All these are for the standard gearing, gearing up for higher assist speeds as many do hits the range, often quite severely with much higher assist speeds. An Agattu or Pro Connect ridden for maximum performance with a 16 tooth rear sprocket and power assist to about 20 mph gives as little as 18 miles from the 10 Ah battery for some members, so in that extreme circumstance, the 18 Ah battery might only equate to about 32 miles.
Dan hits the nail on the head though, who wants to ride distances like 100 miles at less than 14 mph average?
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