Gio Bikes

My scooter is a Gio 500 watt powwer assisted bicycle. It has a range of some 40 miles at a speed of about 20 mph.

That scooter has the same range as all of the other made in China scooters, I can assure you, and it's nowhere near 40 miles..

That's most likely because everyone telling you that knows a lot more about electric vehicles than you do. It isn't rare at all for the salesman to be the least informed of the bunch, especially when EV's are involved. I think your scooter might be able to go 15 miles at best, but only on good days. Most likely it has a range of much closer to 10 miles. Since it has to obey the same laws of physics that any other made in China scooter has to obey, if you claim much farther than that, you're accidentally disclosing your used car salesman/snakeoil salesman status to anyone who knows anything about electric vehicles.

I think your scooter might be able to go 15 miles at best, but only on good days. Most likely it has a range of much closer to 10 miles.* Since it has to obey the same laws of physics that any other made in China scooter has to obey, unless Stephen Hawking or Albert Einstein were involved in it's design, 10-15 miles is all it will be capable of, since it seems to have lead acid batteries, like all other less than $1,000 made in China scooters.

BTW, I do think yours is better looking than the others in it's price range, so congrats. It's nice being able to drive right by gas stations, with that EV grin on your face, isn't it?:)

* That's assuming you ride your scooter like most people do: flat-out in the performance mode. If you use it on the economy 350 watt setting, and don't have a lot of stops in your commute, it isn't hard to imagine it going up to 18-20 miles between charges.

Don, I believe that you believe what you're saying is the absolute truth. I just want you to realize that there is no law that makes it illegal for a manufacturer to make their ammeters off by any huge margin that manufacturer deems appropriate. I can assure you though that you've used the majority of the usable energy in your batteries by the time you have driven 15 miles. Now, how about you tell us your thoughts about your new toy? What do you like about it, what do you dislike, etc. Like I said earlier, I personally think it's quite attractive. I also find it refreshing that someone had the foresight to include a low power setting. Any other thoughts you'd like to share with us about your new Gio?

Don, I would like to apologize to you. I wrongly assumed at first that you were a salesman, and I was being a whole lot ruder than I would have been. We have a section here devoted to advertisements, and it's amazing (to me at least) how few salesmen seem to be able to find that section. They seem to post in any other section than the one in which they are supposed to post their ads. I decided to do a little "research" on you, and discovered you were not in fact a salesman. Then, trying to hurriedly edit the post, I messed up and posted a second time but didn't realize it. With this forum software, after a certain amount of time, you are no longer able to edit your own posts. So, PLEASE pretend like I never even made the second post that I made in this thread, okay?

As far as being smitten, I understand completely. I still feel that way about my electric bicycle, and it's just a cheapo electric bicycle (that could never come close to a 20 mile roundtrip, at least until I get the solar cells installed on it). So, I definitely understand your excitement. As far as carrying cargo, I just wear a backpack, but they also make saddlebags for those scooters. I can look for a link to some, if you're interested.

edit: BTW, there is another person registered here who owns a Gio.<<--That's a link. Also, ebay has these nice panniers, which look like they would fit your scooter perfectly. Good luck, and welcome to the forums, even though they sent the mean guy to welcome you.;-)

You could just leave it plugged in to your charger, but I wouldn't. That would be a waste of not only electricity, but more importantly, a good 3,500 hours of use on your charger that isn't needed. It would be much better to just charge it for a couple of hours every few weeks. Batteries go bad when they are stored for long periods of time without being charged, but it honestly requires almost no charging (that's ALMOST, not none) to keep them charged and healthy.

By the way, wow! Five months of winter weather? Here in Texas, we average at least 40°F/5°C high temps on the average winter day, with overnight lows not usually much below 32°F/0°C. A high temp close to 50°F/10°C isn't very out of the ordinary. No wonder people in Texas don't get cabin fever, huh?:-)

Not sure if you've found it yet, but there is a small forum dedicated to the Gio specificly:

GIO FORUM

FWIW 20miles is the most I could squeeze out of my gio in stock form... and that was trying pretty hard! On the plus side its pretty easy to improve that with more/better batteries. If its a primary mode of transportation I'd definately tweak it in the off season.

-Vanq-

Not sure if you've found it yet, but there is a small forum dedicated to the Gio specificly:

GIO FORUM

Thanks a lot, that will come in handy, I'm sure.

FWIW 20miles is the most I could squeeze out of my gio in stock form... and that was trying pretty hard!

Ahh, that I never would have argued. The problem of course isn't the misinformed owners, it's the disingenuous tricks that these manufacturers are well-known to try, like having ammeters that won't register "dead" until after the batteries are completely removed.

Vanq--tell me how to tweak it. I'm a newbie here.

Don, I'm sure he meant changing out your SLA batteries for LiFeP04 batteries. You could also change out your SLA batteries for larger ones with significantly larger storage capacities. For instance, changing out four 12aH SLA batteries for four 18aH SLA batteries will give you 50% more range.

As for having -30 to -40C temperatures, no thanks. I do believe I'd rather sweat a few months per year than freeze for roughly half of that same year.:-)

Don,
I also live in Winnipeg and have a 500w gio bike...I LOVE it and Mike is a great guy and so helpful. I would not hesitate to get another one EVER and I would get it from him. Enjoy!
Therese