A wheel flew off during this range test LOL! I felt the back veer to one side, skidded a bit, couldn’t control the board and ran off. I didn’t even know a wheel had come off until I looked back at the board. Found all the pieces except for the nut and speedring.
It was my own fault. I looked through photos and saw that I didn’t tighten the wheel nut. See what happens when I don’t follow my own advice? Check all fasteners regularly!
Anyway, on with the range test stuff. Remember, lots of things affect range so please read through the ride conditions. This post isn’t a full review – it’s only covering my range test on the Exway Atlas 4WD with street wheels.
- 2WD with street wheels
- 2WD with all-terrain wheels
- 4WD with street wheels
- 4WD with all-terrain wheels
This test was performed with the original 518 Wh battery with 12S4P 18650 Samsung 30Q cells. Due to a shortage of 18650 cells, the Atlas has switched to using 21700 cells in 12S3P, and still 518 Wh. The performance of the new battery is expected to be similar.
Also, note that the front motors on my Atlas are the smaller prototype motors (less efficient), and the rear motors are the larger final motors (more efficient), and both sets were configured to their maximum power. Normally the power for the front motors should be reduced.
Conditions
Since this range test was interrupted by the wheel flying off, I had to do it in two parts. In the first part, I rode from 98% battery down to 28%, which was when the wheel came off. And then later that night I rode from 28% down to around 13% when the acceleration had dropped significantly.
The remote was showing 13% when I decided to stop the range test. After I let go of the throttle, the remote went to a warning screen showing 3% battery left. The power measurement seems to fluctuate more when the battery is low.
I tried to stay at around 30 km/h (19 mph) but often had to slow down for traffic and whatnot. I was also stopping here and there to take photos.
I was in speed mode 3 most of the time and only switched to mode 4 a couple times to test the acceleration and top speed at about 80% battery and again at about 50% battery. Got 47 km/h (29 mph) at 80% and 43 km/h (27 mph) at 50%.
Although the top speed dropped at 50% battery, I did not notice a difference in torque. I didn’t measure scientifically but staying on the board at full throttle from a standstill was still a challenge.
In mode 3, the top speed was about 35 km/h (22 mph), and at below 50% it dropped to about 30 km/h (19 mph). At 25% it was something like 25 km/h (16 mph) and the torque reduction was noticeable. Again these were top speeds at mode 3. The top speed was always higher in mode 4 but I didn’t want to measure that too much during a range test.
In the first part of the range test, my weight was 78 kg (172 lb). The weather was 20 ºC (68 ºF) when I started, and then dropped to 18 ºC (64 ºF) by the time the wheel came off. During the second part, my weight with an added jacket was 79 kg (174 lb) and the weather was 14 ºC (57 ºF).
Results
For this ride, I measured the distance using the Ride app and my GPS watch for both parts. In the first part, I got 27.7 km on the Ride app and 26.17 km on the watch. In the second part, I got 6.2 km on Ride, and 5.74 on the watch.
So in total, the range results were 33.9 km (Ride) and 31.91 (watch). Let’s call that 33 km or 20.5 miles. That’s roughly 18% less range than the 40 km or 25 miles I got in 2WD with street wheels.
Next I’ll measure 4WD with the stock all-terrain wheels.
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