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It does charge the battery when you apply the brakes. Extra pedaling can reduce the amount of drain on the battery and let you go farther. If you set it on pedal assist level one, it does not use much power from the battery but you do need to pedal a lot harder. I like pedal assist level five the best but you do drain the battery a lot.

It would be really neat if you could ebike as well, I'm always praying for your health.