Originally Posted by
350htrr
OK, give us some numbers... Nobody say's there's no difference, & I suspect if the ride was about 1/2 Hr or less, the noticeable difference would be miniscule. IMO. But, what is the difference you see...??? I would also wrap up the battery in insulation in your case if I seen enough of a difference as to make a difference...
Google maps uses 10mph as an average speed for (unpowered) bicycles, which matches my experience with unpowered bicycles as well. My typical average speed on the Stromer is 15-17mph (much of my current commute is on MUPs with a nominal speed limit of 15mph ... since most of the road cyclists do 20+, I often cap my speed at 20mph to match..I *could* almost certainly raise that average by another 4mph if legal and when conditions optimal).
When I had a shorter commute that was all streets, my unpowered commute was 30-45min (depending on traffic and direction ... much more uphill one way than the other) and was 15-25min powered (and the variation was almost all due to traffic, the delta in uphill was mostly covered by the motor assist). Interestingly, with the shorter commute I wore out brakes much faster ... due to jackrabbit start/stops with all the stop signs and traffic signals.
Insulation is unlikely to help if I keep the battery outdoors, while it would slow the cooling, it won't be overly effective over the course of 8+ hours (overnight, and even during the workday ...). It's not hard to remove the battery and charge it indoors. My (aged) Stromer only uses voltage as an indicator of state of charge (which isn't very reliable) so hard to assert the impact of cold with any precision. At least 20% and perhaps as high as 50% impact (when I was foolish enough to leave the battery in the garage charging overnight).
The thermal mass of the pack is substantial enough that an additional concern is uneven cooling (viz. outside in), from my long ago experience with a lead-acid battery powered EV (Corbin Sparrow) unbalanced cells kill a pack (I managed to actually melt a battery at 60++ mph .. a bit of excitement I don't wish to ever repeat). Stromer's engineering is much better than Corbin's ... so while a fire during operation is incredibly unlikely, an LiON fire is much more problematic than a Lead-acid implosion ... but the deleterious effects on pack life are likely to be considerable.
About 40 years back I really trashed my knees, I had one "repaired" with the crude open surgical techniques popular at the time, so hill climbing without power assist is something my surgeon had warned me off of (at the time, it was "don't run, avoid jogging. Don't ride uphill, and never, ever stand up on the pedals"). I've certainly bent his advice over the years, but I'm just one missed climb from buying myself another surgery ... so I do try to minimize aggressive (unpowered) climbs.