Why claimed range is never the range you get

How a maximum range figure is made

Start with the part most buying advice gets wrong. A brand claiming 65 miles is usually not inventing the number. Somebody genuinely rode that far, or a model predicted it from a measured consumption rate. The problem is the conditions.

A maximum range figure is generated with almost every variable set to its most favourable position at once:

• The lowest pedal-assist level, with the rider pedalling throughout.
• A light rider — often around 155 lb — and no cargo.
• Flat ground, smooth surface, no stopping.
• Little or no wind, a mild temperature near 68°F.
• A steady, unambitious speed, frequently around 15 MPH.
• Correctly inflated tires and a brand-new, fully charged pack.

Every one of those is defensible on its own. Stacked together they describe a ride nobody takes. You are heavier than the test rider, or carrying a bag; your route has junctions and hills; it is windy, or cold, or you are in a hurry. Each departure costs a percentage, and the percentages compound.

That is a reasonable planning band for ordinary riding on a fat-tire e-bike. It is an estimate derived from published capacities and typical consumption rates, not a measured result — this site has not ridden any of these bikes.

What "up to" is doing in that sentence

"Up to 65 miles" is a legally careful phrase. It states a ceiling and promises nothing beneath it. A bike that manages 22 miles on your commute has not broken the claim, because 22 is up to 65.

This is not unique to e-bikes. Broadband speeds, car fuel economy and phone battery life are all quoted the same way. E-bikes are newer, the numbers are larger, and the gap between the ceiling and the median is wider, so the discount most people apply is not steep enough.

The useful correction is to stop reading a range claim as a prediction and start reading it as a boundary. Everything about what a bike will actually do comes from the pack's watt-hour figure and your own riding, which is why our battery and range guide spends its time on watt-hours rather than on miles.

Why the incentive runs one way

Range is the specification buyers filter on. A listing that says 35 miles loses a search-result comparison to one that says 65, even when the two bikes carry identical packs and one brand simply tested harder. Until buyers reward honest numbers, the pressure runs towards best-case figures. The counterweight is publishing conditions, or a band, or a second figure — which some of these brands do, and we credit them for it below.

Twenty-two packs, and the five bikes that take more

Watt-hours are volts multiplied by amp-hours, and they are the only battery figure worth comparing across brands. Here is every pack we cover, smallest first.

• Velotric T1 ST Plus — 36V × 9.8Ah = 352.8Wh. The smallest here, in the lightest bike here, and the only 36V system we cover.
• VTUVIA Zeal LT7 — 48V × 13Ah = 624Wh.
• VTUVIA SF20H, SX20, SN100 and FMB — 48V × 14Ah = 672Wh each.
• Velotric Nomad 1 Plus — 48V, published as 691Wh.
• Velotric Packer 1 — 48V × 14.4Ah = 691.2Wh.
• Velotric Discover 2 — 48V, published as 705.6Wh.
• AMYET EB26, AMYET K10 and EUNORAU META26 — 48V × 15Ah = 720Wh each.
• Velotric Discover 3 — 48V × 15.2Ah = 730Wh.
• Velotric Discover M — 48V × 16.7Ah = 801.6Wh.
• EUNORAU FLASH 2.0 and FLASH Lite 2.0 — 52V × 16Ah = 832Wh each.
• EUNORAU SPECTER-S 3.0 and SPECTER-ST 2.0 — 48V × 17.5Ah = 840Wh each.
• AMYET V9-G60 — 48V × 20Ah = 960Wh.
• AMYET Ares 2 — 52V × 20Ah = 1,040Wh.
• AMYET S8 — 48V × 25Ah = 1,200Wh. The largest single pack here.
• VTUVIA Gemini — "dual 52V 21Ah LG-certified batteries", VTUVIA's own words, and no watt-hour figure from us.

Five bikes take additional batteries, and this is the one place where a range claim is simply arithmetic rather than optimism — two packs really do hold twice the energy.

The EUNORAU META26 takes a second 15Ah pack, going from 720Wh to 1,440Wh. The EUNORAU SPECTER-S takes an optional second battery, going from 840Wh to a stated 1,560Wh, and the SPECTER-ST does the same with a 17Ah second pack, going from 840Wh to approximately 1,656Wh. The EUNORAU FLASH takes two more — a 21Ah top-tube pack and a 17Ah down-tube pack — so 832 + (52 × 21 = 1,092) + (52 × 17 = 884) comes to approximately 2,808Wh, by far the most stored energy on this site and a large part of why the bike weighs 110 lb. The FLASH Lite offers the identical three-pack arrangement for the same approximate 2,808Wh.

There is a price attached to all of it. On base capacity, the AMYET G60 works out near $0.72 per watt-hour and the VTUVIA FMB near $4.46 — which is the clearest illustration of this site's central argument. Below about $1,200 you are buying watt-hours. Above it you are buying brakes, sensors, gearing and published specifications, and the FMB is the extreme case: $2,999 for the same 672Wh the $1,399 SF20H carries.

The eight things that shorten range

Ranked by how much they typically cost a rider over a normal week, not by how dramatic they sound.

• Rider and cargo weight. Every pound has to be accelerated away from every stop and hauled up every rise. If you are near a payload ceiling, read our guide for heavier riders.
• Cold. Lithium cells deliver less of their capacity at low temperature — commonly 20–30% less below roughly 40°F. The energy returns when the pack warms; the miles do not come back on the day.
• Sustained speed. Aerodynamic drag rises with the square of velocity and the power to overcome it with the cube. This is why a 32 MPH top speed and a long range claim can never both be true on the same ride.
• Gradient. Climbing is lifting mass, and the arithmetic is unforgiving. See our hill-climbing guide.
• Headwind. The same physics as speed, delivered by the weather. A 12 MPH headwind at 18 MPH ground speed is aerodynamically a 30 MPH ride.
• Throttle versus pedalling. On throttle the motor provides all of the propulsion; on assist you might be adding 100 to 200 watts yourself. AMYET's own EB26 figures put the difference at roughly half the range.
• Tire pressure. Fat tires that feel wonderful roll badly. Dropping from 20 PSI to 10 PSI noticeably increases rolling resistance. Our fat-tire guide covers where the sensible window sits.
• Stop-start riding. Accelerating a 70 lb bike plus rider from rest is expensive, and a city route with a junction every quarter mile does it constantly.

Six of the eight are conditions rather than components. You cannot buy your way out of them, which is why buying more watt-hours than you think you need is the only real defence.

Estimate your own range in three steps

This takes about a minute and gives you a number you can plan a route around.

Step one: find the watt-hours

Multiply the battery voltage by the amp-hours. The list above is that multiplication done for twenty-one of the twenty-two bikes, the Gemini excepted. If a listing gives you only volts and amp-hours, that is the whole job.

Step two: pick your watt-hours per mile

Be honest about how you ride rather than how you intend to ride. For a heavy fat-tire e-bike, roughly 15–20Wh per mile covers gentle pedal assist on flat ground; roughly 22–28Wh per mile covers ordinary mixed riding; roughly 35–45Wh per mile covers throttle use, hills, heavy loads, cold or high speed. Most people should use 25.

Step three: divide, then subtract a fifth

Watt-hours divided by watt-hours-per-mile gives a raw estimate. Take 20% off and that is your planning range — the distance you would commit to without a charger at the far end.

Run for all twenty-one bikes with a published capacity at 25Wh per mile. These are calculations from published capacities, not test results.

• T1 ST Plus: 352.8 ÷ 25 ≈ 14 miles raw, so roughly 11 miles planning. Against a headline of 70. This is the one bike here where 25Wh per mile is far too harsh a figure — it weighs 39 lb and runs 700 × 40c tires rather than a fat casing — but even at a generous 12Wh per mile the pack is worth about 29 miles raw, so the headline still describes a ride most people will not take.
• Zeal LT7: 624 ÷ 25 ≈ 25 miles raw, so roughly 20 miles planning. Against a headline of 70. Its 2.6-inch tires draw less than a fat tire, so treat this as the conservative end.
• SF20H: 672 ÷ 25 ≈ 27 raw, roughly 21 miles. Against a headline of 70.
• SX20: identical pack, identical arithmetic — 21 miles. Against a headline of 70.
• SN100: identical pack again — 21 miles. Against a headline of 70 on pedal assist.
• FMB: identical pack again — 21 miles. Against a claim of 30 to 50, which is the only headline on this site the arithmetic nearly agrees with at its lower end.
• Nomad 1 Plus: 691 ÷ 25 ≈ 28 raw, roughly 22 miles. Against headlines of 55 assisted and 52 on throttle.
• Packer 1: 691.2 ÷ 25 ≈ 28 raw, roughly 22 miles — before any cargo, and this is the bike here most likely to be carrying some. Against headlines of 52 assisted and 45 on throttle.
• Discover 2: 705.6 ÷ 25 ≈ 28 raw, roughly 23 miles. Against headlines of 75 assisted and 60 on throttle. On 27.5 × 2.4-inch tires it will beat 25Wh per mile, so treat this as conservative.
• EB26: 720 ÷ 25 ≈ 29 raw, roughly 23 miles. Against a headline of 60.
• K10: 720 ÷ 25 ≈ 29 raw, roughly 23 miles. Against a published band of 35 to 60 — and note that our estimate lands below even the bottom of AMYET's own band.
• META26: 720 ÷ 25 ≈ 29 raw, roughly 23 miles on one pack. With two, 1,440 ÷ 25 ≈ 58 raw, roughly 46 miles. Against a headline of 100.
• Discover 3: 730 ÷ 25 ≈ 29 raw, roughly 23 miles. Against headlines of 80 assisted and 65 on throttle.
• Discover M: 801.6 ÷ 25 ≈ 32 raw, roughly 26 miles. Against headlines of 95 assisted and 70 on throttle — the highest assisted claim of any single-pack bike here.
• FLASH: 832 ÷ 25 ≈ 33 raw, roughly 27 miles on the standard pack. With all three, 2,808 ÷ 25 ≈ 112 raw, roughly 90 miles. Against a headline of 220.
• FLASH Lite: the same pack and the same options, so the same 27 miles, or roughly 90 with all three. Against the same headline of 220.
• SPECTER-S: 840 ÷ 25 ≈ 34 raw, roughly 27 miles. With two packs, 1,560 ÷ 25 ≈ 62 raw, roughly 50 miles. Against a headline of 80.
• SPECTER-ST: 840 ÷ 25 ≈ 34 raw, roughly 27 miles. With the second pack, 1,656 ÷ 25 ≈ 66 raw, roughly 53 miles. Against a headline of 80.
• G60: 960 ÷ 25 ≈ 38 raw, roughly 31 miles. Against a headline of 65.
• Ares: 1,040 ÷ 25 ≈ 42 raw, roughly 33 miles — and on two motors on rough ground, use 40Wh per mile instead, which gives 26 raw and about 21 as a plan. AMYET publishes no range claim for the Ares at all, so there is nothing to compare it with.
• S8: 1,200 ÷ 25 = 48 raw, roughly 38 miles — and running both motors on rough ground, use 40Wh per mile instead, which gives 30 raw and about 24 as a plan.
• Gemini: no estimate. The capacity is unresolved, so the division cannot be done.

The reserve is not pessimism. A battery's last 20% is where voltage sag is worst, where cold bites hardest, and where a headwind on the way home turns an inconvenience into a two-hour push. It is also the part of the cycle that ages cells fastest.

Range claims that do not survive arithmetic

Run the division the other way — capacity divided by claimed miles — and you get the watt-hours per mile the brand is implicitly claiming. That number is easy to sanity-check, and it separates the plausible claims from the ones that were never going to work.

Now the same test on the bike sitting next to it. EUNORAU claims up to 80 miles for the SPECTER-S on two batteries. 1,560Wh over 80 miles is 19.5 watt-hours per mile — entirely believable for a mid-drive with a torque sensor ridden sensibly. The SPECTER-ST claims the same 80 miles from roughly 1,656Wh, implying 20.7, which is believable for the same reasons. Same brand, same segment, claims that work and claims that do not.

The rest of the field sits between the two. AMYET's 65-mile ceiling for the G60 implies 960 ÷ 65 ≈ 14.8Wh per mile; its 75-mile figure for the S8 implies 1,200 ÷ 75 = 16, which is optimistic for a bike with two motors driving. EUNORAU's 100-mile META26 claim implies 1,440 ÷ 100 = 14.4Wh per mile, achievable at low assist with a light rider on flat ground and unlikely on a hilly commute; at 20Wh per mile the same two packs give 72 miles.

Velotric's two heavier bikes sit in the same band. The Nomad 1 Plus claims 55 miles from 691Wh, which is 12.6Wh per mile, and the Packer 1 claims 52 from 691.2Wh, or 13.3. Both are low for hub-motor bikes of 70 and 75 lb, though not absurd for gentle riding on the flat.

The three Discover models are more demanding again, and in the same direction. The Discover 2 claims 75 miles from 705.6Wh, which is 9.4Wh per mile; the Discover 3 claims 80 from 730Wh, or 9.1; the Discover M claims 95 from 801.6Wh, or 8.4 — the lowest implied consumption of any bike here bar the T1 ST Plus. All three run 27.5 × 2.4-inch KENDAs rather than fat casings, so they genuinely do draw less than the rest of this field, and all three carry Velotric's footnote about a 187-lb rider on PAS 1 on flat roads. Even so, 8.4Wh per mile on a bike Velotric itself lists at 60 lb before its fenders, kickstand and pedals are counted is a ceiling rather than a prediction.

Two of the newest claims sit at the honest end. VTUVIA gives the FMB a band of 30 to 50 miles from 672Wh, which implies between 22.4 and 13.4Wh per mile — the lower end sitting squarely in ordinary mixed riding, and the most modest headline on this site. AMYET gives the K10 a band of 35 to 60 miles from 720Wh, implying 20.6 at the bottom and 12 at the top. Bands are more useful than ceilings, and both brands deserve the credit.

One claim cannot be tested at all. VTUVIA states up to 90 miles for the Gemini, but describes its battery only as "dual 52V 21Ah" without saying whether that is one pack or two. If it is 1,092Wh the claim implies 12.1Wh per mile; if it is 2,184Wh it implies 24.3, which would be an unusually conservative figure. Those are two very different documents, and we will not choose between them on VTUVIA's behalf.

The most demanding figure of all belongs to Velotric's T1 ST Plus. Up to 70 miles from 352.8Wh implies 352.8 ÷ 70 ≈ 5Wh per mile, comfortably the lowest implied consumption on this site. Two things are worth saying about it. The T1 is genuinely the outlier of the field — 39 lb on 700 × 40c tires, where everything else here weighs 60 lb or more on considerably wider rubber — so its real consumption is lower than any other bike we cover. And alone among these four brands, Velotric prints the conditions behind the number: a 187-lb rider, on PAS 1, in Eco, on flat roads. That is the disclosure this entire field is missing, and we would rather have it than not. It is also, read plainly, an admission that 70 miles describes a ride almost nobody takes.

VTUVIA's assisted claims are the next most demanding. Up to 70 miles from the Zeal LT7's 624Wh implies 624 ÷ 70 ≈ 8.9Wh per mile, and the same 70-mile claim from the SF20H and SX20's 672Wh implies about 9.6. Those are very low numbers, and they describe a rider doing most of the work at the lowest assist level. Which brings us to the figure that is actually useful.

The brands that publish a throttle-only figure

A single "up to" number hides the variance. A second number, for a different way of riding, tells you the shape of the distribution.

VTUVIA publishes a separate throttle-only range for three of its six bikes: up to 40 miles for the SF20H and the SX20, and up to 38 miles for the Zeal LT7. That is among the most useful disclosures in this field, and it is the number to plan around if you rarely pedal. VTUVIA's three newest bikes — the Gemini, the SN100 and the FMB — publish no throttle figure at all, which is a step backwards from its own earlier practice.

It is also the one that survives arithmetic. The SF20H's 40-mile throttle figure implies 672 ÷ 40 ≈ 16.8Wh per mile, and the Zeal LT7's 38 miles implies 624 ÷ 38 ≈ 16.4 — both entirely credible, where the same bikes' 70-mile assisted claims are not. A brand that publishes both is effectively showing you its assumptions.

AMYET does the same on one model. The EB26 is listed at about 30 miles on throttle alone against up to 60 with pedal assist, which puts the throttle figure at exactly half the headline — 720 ÷ 30 = 24Wh per mile, against 12 for the assisted claim. AMYET also publishes a band rather than a single figure for the G60, quoting 30–65 miles per charge, and a 35 to 60 mile band for the K10. It publishes no range figure of any kind for the Ares. EUNORAU publishes no throttle-only figure for any of its five bikes.

Velotric is now the most consistent brand here, publishing a throttle figure for five of its six: 52 miles on throttle against 55 on assist for the Nomad 1 Plus, 45 against 52 for the Packer 1, 60 against 75 for the Discover 2, 65 against 80 for the Discover 3, and 70 against 95 for the Discover M. The Nomad's pair is the narrowest gap between assisted and throttle figures anywhere on this site — three miles, where AMYET's EB26 loses half its range on the throttle — which either says something about how conservatively the assisted figure was generated or something about how little pedalling contributes on a cadence-sensor bike. Velotric also does the thing nobody else here does at all, and footnotes every one of those numbers with the conditions: a 187-lb rider, PAS 1, flat roads. A figure with its assumptions attached is worth more than a larger figure without them.

If two listings quote the same headline mileage and only one of them also tells you what happens on the throttle, the one that tells you is the more trustworthy document.

Why a percentage readout beats five bars

A five-bar gauge divides the pack into five blocks of 20%. Each bar covers roughly eight miles on a 960Wh pack in mixed riding, and the bars do not empty evenly — voltage falls slowly through the middle of the discharge curve and then quickly at the end, so the last bar disappears far faster than the first. You get a warning at the point where it is already too late to change the plan.

A percentage readout lets you do the arithmetic mid-ride. If you are 12 miles in and showing 60%, you have used 40% for 12 miles, so the full pack is worth about 30 miles today, in these conditions, with this rider aboard. That is worth more than any manufacturer claim, because it is a measurement of your actual ride.

What the listings tell us varies. AMYET lists an LCD with battery, trip and odometer readouts on the G60 and EB26 and nothing at all for the K10 or the Ares; VTUVIA lists a 3.5-inch colour display on the SF20H and an unspecified LCD on the Gemini and SN100, and publishes no display at all for the FMB; EUNORAU lists a BC182 LCD with app connectivity on the META26, a BC281 on the FLASH, a CAN-bus DP C010.C8 on the SPECTER-S and a Bafang DPC18 on the SPECTER-ST; and Velotric lists a 3.5-inch full-colour display on all three Discover models, with NFC on the Discover 3 and Discover M. What none of them publishes is whether the battery indicator reads as a percentage or as bars. If you ride to the edge of your range, ask before ordering. We flag exactly this kind of unpublished detail rather than guessing at it, as explained on our how we review page.

The habit that beats any display

Note your odometer and your battery percentage at the same two points on a route you ride often. After a fortnight you will know your own watt-hours per mile better than any specification sheet, in summer and in winter.

What to do when you misjudge it

Everybody gets it wrong once. A cold morning, a detour, a headwind that was not in the forecast, and the display is showing 15% with nine miles to go. Nothing dramatic happens: the bike does not stop, it just becomes progressively less helpful.

• Drop the assist level immediately. Going from level four to level one roughly halves consumption, and doing it at 15% is worth several times doing it at 3%.
• Stop using the throttle entirely. This is the single biggest lever available mid-ride, and VTUVIA's published figures show why.
• Slow down. Because the power to overcome drag rises with the cube of speed, dropping from 22 MPH to 15 MPH cuts the aerodynamic share of consumption dramatically. It costs minutes and buys miles.
• Use the gears. Almost every bike here has at least seven; the exception is the EUNORAU FLASH Lite, which is single-speed, and VTUVIA publishes no drivetrain at all for the Gemini or the FMB. Drop low and spin — your own 100 to 150 watts is a meaningful fraction of what the motor is being asked for at low assist.
• Do not chase the last few percent. When the battery management system cuts off, it cuts off. Better to arrive having pedalled the last two miles than to stop dead on a main road in the dark.

A heavy fat-tire e-bike is genuinely hard work to pedal unassisted, and a 110 lb one is harder still. That is the real argument for the 20% reserve. The gears mean the bike still functions with a flat pack; they do not make it pleasant.

If range anxiety is shaping your shortlist rather than your route, the fix is at purchase rather than on the road: buy the largest pack you can afford, prefer a bike that takes a second one, and read the power side of the sheet with the same scepticism in our motor wattage guide.