Spanish · 5 years on Samui
Spanish cycling enthusiast and eco-travel advocate on Koh Samui for 5 years. Carlos covers all bicycle and e-scooter content with a focus on sustainable exploration.
Updated: May 2026
Planning a G5 Pro day trip on Samui last February, I began with the map rather than the attraction: identified a 55-kilometre route first, then located attractions within that radius, then found a charging café at the midpoint. Starting from the destination and adding kilometres backward is the path to range anxiety by 3 p.m. Starting from the range budget and building the day within it is how I have planned every G5 Pro day trip on Samui for five years without once returning to the rental shop on a walk or a tow. Route before destination is the first principle.
At the rental shop last October I asked the staff to show me the G5 Pro's battery level before departure: 94 per cent after an overnight charge. The 6 per cent shortfall from 100 per cent cost me approximately 5 kilometres of usable range - a margin I noted and accounted for by skipping the longer coastal extension I had considered. The morning battery check is not paranoia - it is the G5 Pro's equivalent of checking the petrol gauge before a ring road day on the NMAX. A 6 per cent deficit is manageable; a 20 per cent deficit changes the plan.
At the Fisherman's Village waterfront café last January, I arrived at midday with 42 per cent battery remaining and plugged in for a two-hour lunch. The charging stop produced 22 per cent recovery and allowed me to extend the afternoon towards Choeng Mon and the headland views without any range calculation. The key insight from five years of G5 Pro day trips: mid-day charging works best when the stop is at a location worth spending two hours at - a good café, a market, a viewpoint. At a waterfront café in the Fisherman's Village, it feels like lunch, not a constraint.
Riding at 50 km/h instead of 40 km/h on the G5 Pro last March on the northern coastal road - a 10 km/h increase sustained for 12 kilometres - consumed 19 per cent battery on that section versus the 11 per cent I had measured at 40 km/h on the same route. The 8 per cent difference translated to 6 kilometres of lost range for the afternoon. Speed management on the G5 Pro is the most immediate control variable for range. Below 50 per cent battery, dropping to 40 km/h extends the remaining range by approximately 30 per cent. This is the trade-off the rider controls directly.
On a full-day G5 Pro circuit last November - Chaweng north coast, west coast to Nathon, south coast return via Lamai, total 74 kilometres - I planned a margin of 15 per cent battery at the Chaweng return. I arrived with 18 per cent remaining: the plan worked within 3 per cent. The 15 per cent safety margin accounts for three unpredictable variables: headwind on long coastal straights, an unplanned stop extension, and higher drain at the last 20 per cent of charge than at higher levels. Build the margin in at the planning stage and it never costs a mid-ride decision.
Five years of Yadea G5 Pro day trips on Koh Samui has produced a planning template I use without variation: check morning battery level, plan route within 80 per cent of indicated range, find a two-hour café charging stop at the midpoint, ride at 40 to 45 km/h on flat coastal sections, and build a 15 per cent return margin. This template has produced zero range failures across more than 40 day trips on the G5 Pro. It works because it plans around the G5 Pro's actual performance rather than its manufacturer specification - and the two figures are close enough that the template holds across every Samui coastal route I have tested.
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