It can be a bit of a minefield choosing an e-bike especially with all the numbers and terms thrown around. This guide will explain what the most common of these mean and the difference it makes to you.
Motor Power
This is measured in ‘Nm’ or Newton metres and will describe how much ‘Oompf’ you receive, particularly when riding up hill. This varies between 35Nm and 90Nm on the bikes we stock and will affect how much or how little work you are still required to do even in the highest mode of assistance. The higher the number, the less effort required by you and the more weight the bike will comfortably transport uphill.
Note: You will likely see ‘250W nominal power’ on some of the specification lists but this does not tell us anything about the performance of the bike. All e-bikes sold in the UK will be limited to 250W.
Mode of Assistance
All of our e-bikes will have a selection of different ‘modes’ which change the proportions of the work done by yourself and how much is done by the bike. For example - in the ‘eco’ mode (lowest) the bike will be doing 15-20% of the work and the rest is done by you. In ‘turbo’ mode (highest) the bike will be doing the vast majority of the work 75-90%. On some e-mountain bikes (e-MTB) there is a smart mode which will sense how much pressure you are putting into the pedals and amend the assistance level depending on this. The names of the modes will differ between brands but the principal is exactly the same.
Battery Capacity
This is measured in ‘Wh’ or ‘Watt hours’ and will tell you approximately how far the bike will go on a single charge. So, if you see 500Wh this tells you that this bike will travel an average of 50 miles (80 km) on a single charge. Generally, it is about 10 miles per 100Wh.
Our battery sizes start at 240Wh and go as high as 750Wh for single battery bikes. It is worth noting that on an e-MTB, the range you experience between charges can be less as you are climbing steeper hills more often. Or, to keep the weight down, the Brompton electric bicycles have a 300Wh battery.
See all replacement chargers and battery for electric bike
Hopefully this guide has helped make the world of e-bikes a bit more accessible and will help you to make an informed decision about which e-bike will be right for you. If you have any further queries, our colleagues, online and in store, are always happy to help.