Hey, what's up?
This is Mikey at Blue Monkey Bicycles, and in this video you're gonna learn about Volts
VS Amp Hours!
*VS Theme*
Electric bike batteries are often summed up by Watt Hours.
So you'll see a pack that says: "300 Watt Hours" or "400WH" or "500 pack".
The higher the Watt Hours the faster and farther the bike will perform in general.
But what does this all mean?
Every battery (even the ones that only say Watt Hours on it) has inside of it a certain
level of Volts and Amp Hours.
Watts (if you remember) is made by multiplying Volts and Amps... pretty simple...
Watt Hours is simply a combination of Volts and Amp Hours.
So what do Volts and Amp Hours mean individually?
Well, let me tell you!
Volts are a measurement of tension: how much pressure can be contained in the battery.
Batteries usually have Volts in sequences of 12, such as: 12, 24, 36, 48.
Volts pretty much mean power; how powerful the battery can be.
But, it also lends to top speed.
A 48v battery will not likely propel an electric bike 50mph because it simply doesn't have
enough pressure to rotate a wheel that many revolutions.
If you climb up steep hills a 48v battery will out perform a 36v because the 36 system
will be working harder to produce the same results.
On the other hand this means that if you have a 72v battery that is only propelling a system
at 20mph then that means that you have unused voltage- or really underutilized voltage in
that system.
Amp Hours is a measurement of capacity; how long (in hours actually) a load can draw 1amp
at the stated voltage from this battery.
This means that if you hook up a 48v 10Ah battery to a very precise machine that draws
1 amp at 48 volts exactly this machine will continue operating for exactly 10 hours until
the battery dies.
Bikes (and especially riders) are not that precise.
That's one reason why aside from videos on science or theory or something like that,
we actually put rubber to the road and we do real world range tests from our shop here.
So if you want to know how far an electric bike will go, we can tell you, with exact
results.
If you'd like you can check out the link by clicking this box, or this box, or maybe down
here, or maybe everywhere or something...
Anyways!
Back to Amp Hours: So, Amp Hours sometimes is summed up, or sometimes
people just don't say it right and they say "Amps".
So there is "Amps" and "Amp Hours" and those are two very different things if you're doing
a college test or if you're in the design phase of making your own battery or bike.
But, if you're just looking online at specifications; then if you see "Amps" instead of "Amp Hours"
it's not really a big deal because ... you kinda know what they're getting at.
Higher Amp Hours generally means higher range; how long the bike will go until it stops working
electrically and then dies.
Some common battery packs will be 36v 10Ah on the low end, 36v 15Ah for a not-too-powerful
bike that goes really far, and of course a 48v 15Ah would be better still.
OK, so you may have noticed that I've used words like: "pretty much" or "leads to" or
"generally".
That's because it's not an exact mathematical formula for volts and speed and amp hours
and distance.
For example, if you had a 48v 10Ah battery vs a 48v 15Ah battery; Yes, the 15Ah batters
is going to be able to go substantially longer in range, but also it is going to be a little
bit more powerful and a little bit more faster... "little bit more faster"?
Little bit fas- It's going to be a little bit faster!
Right!
But, if you want more bang for your buck increasing the Voltage will increase the top speed more
effectively, increasing the Amp Hours will increase the distance or range more effectively.
So, to summarize everything up to this point is as follows:
Higher Volts suggest higher Power, Higher Amp Hours suggest higher Range.
It's not that simple, but it really should be.
So if you haven't yet, please go to your electric bike shop around your area and check it out
and give an electric bike a try.
If you're in Utah, please come here because we have all sorts of bikes you can try 'em
out and everything like that.
If you'd like to research more you can find out more information on our website (videos,
articles, compare models, range tests and you can even do some shopping there too).
That website (as I'm sure you know by now) is
bluemonkeybicycles.com
... so for example if you have a 48v 15Ah battery
and a 48-- *Phone Rings*
Oh darn!
Alright, where were we?
Increasing one will effect the other so for example if you have a 48v 10Ah
*Cell Phone Rings* Now my phone is ringing.
Great.
Hello?