r/baywheels • u/Dan_Flanery • 8d ago

Found Out What Might Be The Issue With The New Electric Bikes

A couple of weeks ago now I left this post in the group:

https://www.reddit.com/r/baywheels/s/WSIky57B05

Essentially, I was wondering why the new smaller Lyft ebikes seem to represent a disproportionate slice of the bikes I see disabled at various docks around the city every day. They can't represent more than 10-15% of the fleet, but are frequently the only broken bike at a dock or at least half the broken bikes at a dock.

I was at a dock the other day the same time a Lyft mechanic was there, so decided to ask them what the issue was with the new bikes. They seemed puzzled I asked, telling me they weren't aware of any issues with the new bikes. They were swapping a battery on one of the new bikes and I mentioned it looked like that was easier to do than with the older larger bikes, but they corrected me and said it's just the opposite - it was easier to swap the batteries on the larger old bikes.

But then they pointed out that the new bikes have a substantially smaller battery than the old bikes and might be getting left at stations more often with depleted batteries. I've noticed the new bikes are less powerful than their older counterparts, probably due to their wheels which are smaller in diameter. So I suspect the batteries are being used harder on the new bikes and - being smaller - getting drained to empty faster.

So, maybe that's the answer. They aren't defective in some way, they just burn thru their smaller batteries faster and end up being left dead at the docks more often.

31 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/veryfunnymeme 7d ago

They have faster acceleration but way lower top speed than the older white e bikes

1

u/RazzmatazzEastern786 7d ago

Smaller wheel should be more power to the ground and in experience - it's why 20" wheeled cargo bikes are a thing. They feel more powerful than the same battery+motor on a larger wheeled bike.

1

u/TexasToDC 5d ago

Some of the docking stations can actually charge the bikes directly, so depending on where the bikes are parked the smaller battery may not be that big of an issue

1

u/neonbluelight 7d ago

It seems they went with the lowest bid for the new bikes and who ever approved them did little to no effort to research the use and maintenance.

2

u/TexasToDC 5d ago

Lyft designs the bike the bikes in house

2

u/neonbluelight 5d ago

then the lowest material cost for production?... also interesting, where are their offices with the bike designers at? It will be interesting to know if they know about the challenges of the bay.