Radrover 5 battery/motor use question and gear selection

[santacruzpaul]

Hey all,
Question When in PA mode or throttle, Does it matter what gear you are in,
   My thinking is if it easier to peddle in the lower gears, it is easier on the motor and battery to be in a appropriate gear for the flat or grades.  I heard online from you tube citizen cyclery that he keeps a 7 speed bikes in the highest gear all the time using PA and throttle, My thinking is the motor and battery have to work harder just like peddling in higher gears at lower speeds.
Thanks, Paul

[Ddaybc]

Hi Paul,
Our Rad bikes have hub drives so the gear selection doesn't affect the motor at all. Pedal assist or using the throttle applies a specific amount of wattage to the hub drive. Nothing goes through the drive sprockets or chain.
We, as mere humans, can put about the equivalent of 100 watts into the effort to move a bicycle forward so gear selection is important for us. As a hub drive the only thing affecting the motor is the weight it has to move by rotating the wheel. According to some posts, the hub drive may use more power (amps? watts? not sure) when the rear wheel is rotating slow verses rotating quicker so when one gets up to speed it may be more efficient?
If one had a bottom bracket kind of motor (attached to the front pedals/sprocket) then the gear selection becomes very important as all the power applied to the pedals from the motor and from the person riding is fed through the sprockets and chain to rotate the wheel.
Both systems have pros and cons.

[jbfoster]

I keep my Rover5 in 7th gear all the time. If I am going to work I use PAS 5. If I'm out for a casual cruse I'll use PAS 3. There are no hills here where I live so I don't really need to shift.

Jim