The short answer
For a working estimate, divide your battery's watt-hours by 10: a 500Wh battery gives about 50km (31 miles). That uses Cycling UK's ballpark of about 1kWh per 100km, and a measured study puts real use at 7 to 12Wh per km, so expect roughly 40km to 70km from 500Wh depending on hills, weight and assist level.
Makers claim far more. Across 61 e-bikes on sale in the UK, read on 22 October 2026, the typical range claim needs just 5.6Wh per km, and 48 of the 61 claims need less than the 7Wh per km at the efficient end of the measured range (Look Into, 22 October 2026). The bolder claims usually come with the lightest rider and flattest road in the small print.
Prices and specs last checked by Look Into on 22 October 2026 · how we picked
Watt-hours, explained
A battery's capacity in watt-hours (Wh) is the amount of energy it holds, and it is the spec that decides range. If a listing gives only volts and amp-hours, multiply them: 48V x 13Ah = 624Wh, 36V x 13Ah = 468Wh. Volts on their own say nothing about range: a 36V 14Ah pack (504Wh) holds more than a 48V 10Ah pack (480Wh).
How far an e-bike really goes
Two independent figures for how much energy an e-bike uses:
- Cycling UK: "Ballpark figures suggest that e-bikes consume around 1kWh of energy per 100 passenger kilometres" (Cycling UK). That is 10Wh per km.
- A measured study found "the energy consumption is from 7 to 12Wh/km" at 15 to 25km/h, with real routes averaging 11.2Wh per km and more (Evtimov et al., Transport Problems, 2015).
| Battery | Hilly, heavy rider, high assist (12Wh/km) | Ballpark (10Wh/km) | Flat, light rider, low assist (7Wh/km) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300Wh | 25km | 30km | 43km |
| 400Wh | 33km | 40km | 57km |
| 500Wh | 42km | 50km | 71km |
| 625Wh | 52km | 62km | 89km |
| 750Wh | 62km | 75km | 107km |
Range = battery Wh divided by Wh per km. These are estimates from published consumption figures, not measurements of any particular bike.
What 61 range claims assume
On 22 October 2026 we read the range claims for 61 e-bikes on sale in the UK: 23 from Amazon UK listings and 38 from maker and UK retailer sites (Fiido, Volt, Estarli, Brompton and the brands sold by Evans Cycles). For each we divided the stated battery watt-hours by the maximum claimed range, giving the watt-hours per kilometre the claim requires. The lower that number, the harder the claim is working.
- Typical claim: 5.6Wh per claimed km (the median of 61). That is about half of Cycling UK's ballpark, so the typical claim is close to double the range the ballpark figure would give.
- 48 of 61 claims need less than 7Wh per km, the most efficient end of the measured study.
- Boldest: 100km from a 208.8Wh battery, 2.1Wh per km, stated for a 75kg rider on flat terrain in the lowest assist mode (Fiido C21).
- Most cautious: about 12Wh per km, from three Amazon listings with big batteries and modest claims (a 1,104Wh fat-tyre bike claiming 90km, a 960Wh bike claiming 80km and a 480Wh folder claiming 40km).
Stated test conditions go with bolder claims, not more cautious ones
22 of the 61 say what their range assumes, typically a rider of 65kg to 85kg on flat roads in the lowest assist mode. Those 22 claim a median 5.1Wh per km; the 39 that state nothing claim 5.9Wh per km. Stating the conditions is honest and useful, but the conditions chosen are the ones that make the number big. If you weigh more than the test rider, ride hills or use a higher assist level, expect less.
Makers claim more than marketplace listings
The 38 bikes on maker and retailer sites claim a median 5.1Wh per km; the 23 Amazon listings 6.2Wh per km. The bigger Amazon batteries carry claims that are, per watt-hour, more modest.
Some premium brands make no distance claim at all
Seven bikes on Evans Cycles from established brands (three Treks, two Cubes, a Haibike and Brompton's G Line) gave a battery size but no distance range, and a Specialized gave its range in hours. They are not in the 61, because there was no distance claim to test. It is the more defensible choice, since range depends so much on the rider.
A sample of the 61
| Bike | Battery | Claimed range | Wh per claimed km | Conditions stated? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiido C21 | 208.8Wh | 100km | 2.1 | Yes | Maker |
| Fiido X | 417.6Wh | 130km | 3.2 | Yes | Maker |
| Finbike EB3 26" | 374.4Wh | 100km | 3.7 | Yes | Amazon UK |
| Finbike M50 27.5" | 468Wh | 120km | 3.9 | No | Amazon UK |
| Brompton Electric C Line | 300Wh | 70km | 4.3 | No | Evans Cycles |
| Falcon Heritage Low Step | 360Wh | 64km | 5.6 | No | Evans Cycles |
| URLIFE 20" fat tyre | 624Wh | 100km | 6.2 | No | Amazon UK |
| Fiido D3 Pro | 280.8Wh | 33km | 8.5 | Yes | Maker |
| 14" folder (generic) | 480Wh | 40km | 12.0 | No | Amazon UK |
| WITAMBIKE CF26 PRO | 1,104Wh | 90km | 12.3 | No | Amazon UK |
The full table of 61, with every source link and the claim as written, is free to download: ebike-range-claims-2026-10-22.csv. Free to reuse with credit to Look Into and a link to this page.
Estimate your own range
- Find the battery's watt-hours, or multiply volts by amp-hours.
- Divide by 10 for an everyday estimate in kilometres. Divide by 12 if you are heavier, ride hills or use a high assist level, and by 7 for flat, gentle, low-assist riding.
- Keep 20% in hand. Batteries lose capacity with age and in cold weather.
For what each kilometre costs in electricity and battery wear, see what it costs to charge an e-bike and e-bike battery replacement cost.
What this means when buying
Buy watt-hours, not range claims. Two bikes with the same 624Wh battery can be advertised at 80km and 100km; on the road they will go about as far as each other. Our best electric bikes guide and best folding electric bikes guide list the stated battery for every pick, and the same divide-by-the-datasheet method is how we read home battery claims in our home battery usable-capacity audit.
Questions
Does an e-bike recharge as you pedal? A few listings claim it does, but none we read gives a figure. Plan on charging from the wall.
Is 36V or 48V better? For range, neither: watt-hours decide range. A higher voltage can help a motor deliver power, but the legal limit on motor power is the same 250W either way.
Why is my range lower in winter? Lithium-ion batteries deliver less energy when cold, and winter riding usually means more lights, more wind and wetter roads.
Method
- Amazon UK: the first unsponsored results for "electric bike" and "folding electric bike", read 22 October 2026. Duplicate listings of the same model were counted once. Listings with no battery capacity, no range claim, or a motor rating that is not an e-bike in law (one 3,000W "dirt bike") were left out.
- Maker and retailer sites: product pages read 22 October 2026 at uk.fiido.com, voltbikes.co.uk, estarli.co.uk, evanscycles.com and brompton.com. Halfords, Decathlon, Raleigh, Ribble, Gtech and Engwe pages did not load or showed no specifications, so they are not included.
- Watt-hours: as stated, or volts x amp-hours where only those were given. Where a listing's specification table gave a different figure from its title, we used the title and recorded the conflict. Four listings disagreed with themselves on capacity.
- Claimed range: the maximum stated figure, in km, converted from miles at 1.609 where needed.
- No bike was ridden. Wh per claimed km is arithmetic on the seller's own numbers, not a measurement.
Changes to this page
- 22 October 2026: page and dataset published (61 e-bikes).