Electrician/Electrical engineer advice on electric bicycle

[redsquash]

Advise FOR AN ELECTRIC BICYCLE OF 500W.
WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF
A, 36V BATTERY 15AH
COMPARED TO A
48V Battery 10Ah , both Advanced Lithium Ion .
( 48V a few hundred $ more expensive)

WHICH IS A BETTER CHOICE AND WHY?
LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR ANSWER.
Thanks in advance

 

[vaughan]

Theoretically the 48 volt bike could be more efficient (make most use of the battery) but by your stats, it has 50% less capacity than the 36 volt model.

 

[Doovalacky]

Normally higher voltage is better as less current. However in this case the 36V battery has slightly more total capacity.
Assuming your motor will run fine on 36V I would go the cheaper route. Perhaps consider 2 in parallel.

However I would recommend checking out http://endless-sphere.com or some other bike forums. 10 or 15Ah sounds a bit small to me.

Remember if your motor draws too many amps at once compared to the battery rating it damages them. eg a 15Ah battery with a 1C rating should never have more than 15Amp load.