This species flies in the upper levels of the canopy (Fenton 1972), occurs in tropical forests off coastal areas (Alvarez-Castañeda and Alvarez 1991), in the eastern Brazilian highlands, coast and in the Amazon Basin and Atlantic Forest biomes (Koopman 1982, da Fonseca et al. 1996). In Venezuela, it has been observed over ponds, large clearings and evergreen forests, roosting inside a cavity located in a dead standing tree in a large lagoon (Handley 1976). In Peru, E. hansae flew over a small river bordered by tall, tropical, lowland forest in hilly terrain (Graham and Barkley 1984). In Bolivia, this bat occurred in a savanna area near the edge of a forest (Ibañez and Ochoa 1989). The stomach of a specimen from Bolivia contained Orthoptera (Anderson 1997).

This species is found in Central and South America. This bat is known from Mexico, northwest Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil (Simmons 2005). It occurs at elevations of 45 m asl in French Guiana (Simmons and Voss 1998), 155 m asl in Venezuela (Eisenberg 1989, Handley 1976) and at 320 m asl in Peru (Graham and Barkley 1984). In Belize it is known from collections (Reid pers. comm.).

It occurs in protected areas throughout the range.