Originally Posted by
DougG
I'm looking at a Vado 4.0 for next year, but now I'm concerned about your range report. I don't commute, but would want to ride it on routes that can easily be 40+ miles. I'm guessing that the issue, though, is that you're riding it at 23-25 mph at a higher boost level, and I doubt I'd crank it up that high most of the time, especially since I'd be on MUPs and rail-trails.
I had the use of an older Vado (2.0?) for a couple days. It was limited to 20mph and after my two days on it and probably 50+ miles of riding, mostly in the lowest boost setting, there was a considerable amount of battery left. Like any electric vehicle, lots of things that affect the range. So maybe it wouldn't be an issue for me, but "range anxiety" is definitely a factor I wouldn't look forward to!
There are some app features that may assist in your anxiety. Mission control app will let you to use "Smart Control", and govern battery drain. I've never tried it. It also allows you to adjust the "support" and "peak power" for each of the 3 settings. When I ride recreational with my wife, I ride in the lowest setting, and average 14-16 mph. Last night, I ride mostly in low and rode 14 miles. I used 25% battery. So, 60 miles is a liberal estimate. You could carry a 2nd battery. (about $600 + whatever the trim cover costs)---or not
I learned that Trek will offer auxiliary batteries to be mounted to the bottle cage braze-ons on their new 2020 models.