Autonomy

Sounds about right. I have the 350 with the same battery. I might get 14 miles without pedaling, but the 350 goes slower so you'd expect a greater range.

The Bionx system is an assist system, not an electric motorcycle system. The battery is relatively small. It's amazing, to me, that I can go that far on one charge without pedaling.

I generally use my system in "level 2" and got about 36 miles on a charge when the battery was new.

http://www.greenspeed.us/bionx_motor_bike_kit.htm gives the estimated ranges at various levels of assist. They don't list range with no pedaling.

These are ideal ranges with a person of a certain weight, etc. Probably someone who weighs 145 lbs or so. My guess is that these are ranges are measured with very little stopping. The regen can only recover a fraction of the energy given up every time you have to stop and then reaccelerate. And the range testing is probably on level ground.

I weigh 190 lbs plus I am typically carrying 15 lbs of stuff in my pannier. So I'm way over the test weight. Throw in some headwinds on at least part of the ride and a lot of stopping and starting and I'm not surprised at all that I get 36 miles vs. the 46 miles listed for level 2, even though I'm riding in a pretty flat area.

Also, the faster you go the more wind resistance. I'm assuming for the 350PL that these are for 15 mph while I average 18 mph.

It looks like they are assuming the same ride speed for the 500 model since they give the same ranges as for the 350. So if you are going, say, 22 mph with the 500 but they test at 15, then your air resistance losses are going to be more than twice as high ( resistant loss goes, roughly, with the square of speed). That's the major loss factor, so this will make a huge difference.

Try riding your bike on a track with no stops, with only a light breeze and at 15 mph. And with your tires pumped up pretty hard. Without stops your weight won't matter too much. I'll bet you'll get the stated mileage or close to it.

For me, in real world riding, I find 36/46 or 78% of the stated ranges is pretty accurate for what I get at the varying assist levels.

Obviously, YMMV depending on your riding style and weight. If you accelerate hard and stop quickly and have a lot of stops, it's going to go down. Also if you climb steep hills.

http://www.extraenergy.org/main.php does ebikes testing on real-world test tracks. They haven't done the 500 yet - I think they do only European legal bikes, which can't exceed ?25 kmh. But check and see if they have done the 500.