Zero Motorcycles

[wiztecy]

Congrats and yes, I should have warned you about the wheelie mania. Note that riding wheelies on an electric is a little different than with an ICE bike. It comes up fast and if you let off the throttle while the front wheel is in the air, it comes down hard. I usually ride out the wheelie until the front comes down naturally as the torque curve drops, that way its a smooth transition.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Is this normal. I thought this was a 5.7 KW

 

[wiztecy]

5.33kw hours would be 100% SOC. Know that Zero keeps a little reserve down below at 0%soc, so that most likely would be the remaining 0.37kw/h.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Thanks. Similar to what Tesla does with their battery. It charged to 100% last night after some spirited driving!

 

[Xenoilphobe]

My son has officially named the Zero FX the "Tesla Motorcycle" All his friends have been rolling over to check it out. I can't believe I didn't buy one sooner!!!! This bike is completely awesome offered!

 

[wiztecy]

My son has officially named the Zero FX the "Tesla Motorcycle" All his friends have been rolling over to check it out. I can't believe I didn't buy one sooner!!!! This bike is completely awesome offered!

I get people asking about mine all the time, at most red-lights and parking lots. I started out with my 2010 Zero DS, sold that and picked this one up and the FX has lived up to all my expectations of what an electric motorcycle should be. And I 100% agree, its awesome. You got a sick deal too, can't believe that score.

Your next stop is an electric skateboard I have two Metroboard lithium ion skateboards (older models), one shortboard and one long. They go 18mph and have about a 20 mile range. The current/newest generation you can get a 20mph speed and an option to pick up a 40mile range pack:

40 Metroboard Slim Electric Longboard - STEALTH EDITION

 

[lolachampcar]

How do they compare price wise and performance to the Boosted?

 

[wiztecy]

How do they compare price wise and performance to the Boosted?

Metroboard older to newer versions or Zero?

For the metro, the older generation of course were cheaper and newer is a little more expensive... especially if you want the 40mile range. But I'd have no need for that, my 20 milers are fine. My Longboard I bought for a little over $1k, I found my short on craigslist for $600. I like the shortboard for that I can throw that thing in the trunk of the Roadster. It really helps when I drive up to San Francisco, no issue with finding parking. I can park at a charger that's further than usual, pop out my Metro, jump on it, and be where I need to be in a flash. The longboard is fun and more stable when I ride around Santa Cruz.

The older version of the metro uses a brushed motor, the newer ones use a brushless Outrunner motor. I'm not too concerned about replacing brushes anytime soon on mine since they don't get used as much in terms of miles compared to my Zero or Roadster.

By the way, hows your Zero SR working out for you so far?

 

[Xenoilphobe]

I working on getting some upgrades to the lighting. Everything was halogen H4 headlight 1157 taillights, ordered a JW Speaker 8630 Evolution LED and vleds.com 1157 taillight . As well as the High Low Rigid Industries D2 offroad led driving lights. Cant wait to get everything installed.

 

[wiztecy]

Make sure you get a set of bark-busters installed, huge plus. Keeps your hands safe in the event of a crash also keeps you protected from the wind-chill. Let me know how the headlight works out. I personally like the single headlight look when you run the street tires/rims on the FX, a real supermoto look. But with the dirt tires the dual light looks pretty mean and appropriate there. Only issue is that its still halogen.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Thanks for the advice - the "bark busters" are on their way along with a high speed charger. Got my Rigid Industry's D2 off road lights installed - I went with the high/low beam ones and installed the on the front forks. They are working great!! - Just need to go back and trim the wiring down - I think this set was designed to go in a very large truck with a a 10 foot hood!!!

- - - Updated - - -

 

[S'toon]

Zero Motorcycles Gets a Supercharger

Via this post on Terry Hershner’s Facebook page, we got a hint of what may be some of the trinkets and toys we’ll see in a short time at the Zero 2016 launch – how does a 80% charge in under an hour sound? Think Zero is packaging that with their bikes? We’ll find out soon.

Our buddies at Motorcycle.com put this story together on DigiNow’s Zero Supercharger, with some impressive details… like on or off-bike use, use with or without the existing charger, use on other EVs (bikes and cars, too), 12kW peak power and up to 9kW continuous (7-10 times more powerful than the standard Zero charger), a J1772 connector, 10kW continuous from a NEMA 14-50 power outlet, (the same outlet used for a household clothes dryer and the one found at many RV parks) and more…

It’s intended for use in the spot the Power Tank has reserved for it, or in an aftermarket top-case. Game-changer, much?

DigiNow is the work of one Brandon Nozaki Miller (AKA The Electric Cowboy) and team, and with smaller packs, Miller says, for example a 2012 Zero S with the ZF6 (6 kWh) battery could go from fully flat to fully charged in under 40 minutes. “Charging from 30% to 90% would be ridiculous,” he said. “Like stop, plug in, go pee, then go ride again.”

<snip>

Full article at:
http://insideevs.com/zero-motorcycles-gets-supercharger/

 

[robby]

Full article at:
http://insideevs.com/zero-motorcycles-gets-supercharger/

Thanks for posting, this is awesome! Wonder if it will work with my 2013 XU.

 

[lolachampcar]

My only fear is heat. When you are cruising down the highway discharging at 1C or better, you have tons of airflow on the pack. Sitting still and charging at 1C is a different matter. Fingers crossed that this is real stuff.

 

[robby]

My only fear is heat. When you are cruising down the highway discharging at 1C or better, you have tons of airflow on the pack. Sitting still and charging at 1C is a different matter. Fingers crossed that this is real stuff.

Yup, same concern. Going to try to reach out to Luke at Zero and see what his thoughts are. Will report back if I can get in touch.

 

[domenick]

The 2016 lineup for Zero Motorcylces has been announced!

Two new models – the FXS, a supermoto using the FX chassis, and the DSR, a high performance version of the dual sport DS – as well as bigger (and better) batteries, a new motor redesign, and a level 2 charging option.
At the link above there is also a video for each model, as well a a featured video showing a bit of everything.

I'll try to keep my eyes on the forum today, if anyone has any questions.

 

[alice]

i want:biggrin:

 

[Xenoilphobe]

The DSR with level 2 charging would be really cool!

 

[lolachampcar]

I suspect the L2 charging is simply a second charger stuffed in the power pack area and the necessary resistors attached to an L2 receptacle to turn on the EVSE. There are some creative guys on the electric motorcycle forums. It would not surprise me if they came up with a more cost effective option.

 

[robby]

I suspect the L2 charging is simply a second charger stuffed in the power pack area and the necessary resistors attached to an L2 receptacle to turn on the EVSE. There are some creative guys on the electric motorcycle forums. It would not surprise me if they came up with a more cost effective option.

My understanding from the product page is that this is generally correct, except there are two additional chargers, not just one:

> The Charge Tank effectively triples the on-board charging speed by working with level 2 charging stations on the popular J1772 standard.

The DigiNow seems like a more robust solution, but I share your heating concern of when sending 12 kW into a Zero pack.