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[T.S. Zarathustra]

There should now be enough Zero motorcycles that have passed (or are about to pass) the 10 year mark, that there should be lot of real life experience on how long the bikes and specially batteries really last in the real world. I'm mostly interested in status of 2010-2015 models.

If you have one and regularly use it:
What's your range?
What's the discharge curve like? (linear, goes from nearly full to empty in 10 miles, shows half a charge after 10 miles but can ride for a long time)
How long does it take to charge?
What have been your biggest issues?
What year is your bike?

Please share also if you've had zero issues.

Edit. I'm not writing a report or anything. I'm interested in actual real life feasibility (range, cost, reliability, maintenance, etc) of owning (or purchasing) battery equipped motorcycles long term for general users.

[Richard230]

Don't forget that the entire the 2012 S and DS production was recalled by Zero in 2018 due to the possibility of catching fire when being recharged. That was why I gave my daughter my 2014 model when her 2012 S was recalled and bought back by Zero.

[Moto7575]

My mother still rides my 2011 Zero XU bike. had some issues in the beginning (insulation, plastics,...) but it has been fine since then, with some mechanical changes (shock absorber - thanks af1racing !). Bike's serial is 44

[T.S. Zarathustra]

Don't forget that the entire the 2012 S and DS production was recalled by Zero in 2018 due to the possibility of catching fire when being recharged. That was why I gave my daughter my 2014 model when her 2012 S was recalled and bought back by Zero.

Lot of bikes of that age, that come for sale here, mention having an updated (bigger) battery as some sort of special upgrade offer from Zero.

[Richard230]

Don't forget that the entire the 2012 S and DS production was recalled by Zero in 2018 due to the possibility of catching fire when being recharged. That was why I gave my daughter my 2014 model when her 2012 S was recalled and bought back by Zero.

Lot of bikes of that age, that come for sale here, mention having an updated (bigger) battery as some sort of special upgrade offer from Zero.

I don't believe that is the case for the 2012 models. They were all recalled for safety reasons and Zero would never continue to support them. No doubt a few escaped the crusher, but if so I haven't heard of any.

[TheRan]

Don't forget that the entire the 2012 S and DS production was recalled by Zero in 2018 due to the possibility of catching fire when being recharged. That was why I gave my daughter my 2014 model when her 2012 S was recalled and bought back by Zero.

Lot of bikes of that age, that come for sale here, mention having an updated (bigger) battery as some sort of special upgrade offer from Zero.

I don't believe that is the case for the 2012 models. They were all recalled for safety reasons and Zero would never continue to support them. No doubt a few escaped the crusher, but if so I haven't heard of any.

What was it that caused them to be recalled? Battery? Charger? Seems a bit overkill to just destroy a year's worth of bikes instead of replacing the component.

[Moto7575]

2011 or 2012 models were not recalled in Europe at least - you can still see a couple of them on the market

[Richard230]

Don't forget that the entire the 2012 S and DS production was recalled by Zero in 2018 due to the possibility of catching fire when being recharged. That was why I gave my daughter my 2014 model when her 2012 S was recalled and bought back by Zero.

Lot of bikes of that age, that come for sale here, mention having an updated (bigger) battery as some sort of special upgrade offer from Zero.

I don't believe that is the case for the 2012 models. They were all recalled for safety reasons and Zero would never continue to support them. No doubt a few escaped the crusher, but if so I haven't heard of any.

What was it that caused them to be recalled? Battery? Charger? Seems a bit overkill to just destroy a year's worth of bikes instead of replacing the component.

Several 2012 bikes caught fire while charging in Hong Kong and in the UK, as I recall. Zero got real nervous and I guess was worried about the bikes catching fire while being charged in someone's garage while the family was asleep.  Zero blamed defective EIG battery packs, while EIG pointed the finger at Zero for either the design or the assembly of the battery packs. I never heard who ended up paying for the recall. (My daughter's bike was picked up by Zero at her home and they gave her a $6,300 check for her 2012 ZF9 in May 2018.) It was an official government recall: NHTSA Recall No. 18V215. The bikes recalled were the Zero S, DS & DSP models built between October 11, 2011 and August 24, 2012. Zero said that there was a design defect in the cell pouches and cell holders, which could result in an electrical short causing a fire.

To my knowledge there was no safety problem with the 2010 or 2011 model year bikes. They used a different type of battery and motor and just about everything else.

BTW, I bought the 2012 Zero S ZF9 for $14K and it had 8,300 miles on the clock when Zero bought it back from my daughter. (I gave her that bike when I bought my 2014 S, which I gave to her after the 2012 model was picked up by Zero and then I bought my current 2018 S.)

[T.S. Zarathustra]

Here are some comments from Reddit owners:
2016 DSR. "I drive the bike daily for commute, about 100km/day and have it since sept 2016. Real range is about 110-130 km @ 100km/h and a lot more going slower. Didn't lose a mentionable amount of charge in all the years of ownership, maybe 2% or something. Odo is at 60.000km's now."

"I have a 2016 SR. Bought it 2 years ago with 27k miles and it’s at 32k now. The onboard charger died a few months ago. The previous owner didn’t mention getting a new charger so I presume it was the original.

Also, It will act up if left out when it’s really rainy for several days. Will refuse to start until it dries out which can take a couple of days. So based on my experience use a cover if it rains alot (unless you have covered parking) and budget for a possible charger replacement. Other than that it’s been a great bike. Battery is maybe 80% capacity compared to new? Hard to tell. I get about 60miles of range with mixed highway/city riding and I ride it hard."

"I had a 2015 S that had the controller fail the day after delivery and then the next year the charger died."

"I have a 2014 SR with 5,000+ miles and the bike is still going strong with the exception of a failing onboard 110v charger. It was purchased for $6K USD with an additional external charger and luggage included."

DSR BlackForest. "Motor: no moving parts other than the axis; good for a million km at least.
Battery: mine (DSR 14.4) is from 2018 with 26000 km and still no discernible drop in range.
Controllers: i can’t say, but from what I understand they are also relatively generic, so there’s a good chance of fixing or finding replacements.
DC/DC converter: this one is special. It will probably fail sooner or later, because Zero decided to use one that is not made for input voltages their battery supplies, but is replaceable with a better one for a few 100€ (cheaper than the OEM)
Charger(s): I cannot say. Mine are both fine and there is a relatively large after market offering."

[Richard230]

It certainly sounds like the OBC is the most likely component to fail on jut about every Gen 2 Zero.

[grmarks]

The 2014 Zeros had a battery replacement program as the batteries caught fire on some bikes.
I currently have a 2015 SR with some sort of problem. I thought it was the battery as it cuts power after a couple of minutes at 100km/h limiting me to just 80 km/h. It is worse in cold weather (15 degrees C) and almost non existent in hot weather (30 degrees C).  If you stop at lights you can get 30 more seconds at 100 km/h before it cuts power. It reduces the power slowly, 99, 98, 97, 96 etc. km/h
To me, it seemed like a module was not keeping up with the rest so the BMS cut back power. A voltage drop, or something. But someone suggested that it could be a temp sensor in the battery pack.
When I first turn the bike on the dash will show EEE for a couple of seconds at the end of the start up cycle. If I turn it off and on again it doesn't show the second time. If I let it sit for a bit and turn it on it will show again. My guess was that one module had a bit lower voltage and once keyed on the other modules "charged" it up and the error disapears.

Has anyone had any similar symptoms?
 

[Alan. Yes THAT Alan]

Going back to the original thread.

My 2011 lasted for 6,600 miles before it needed new batteries. A week after replacing the batteries, the Alltrax controller suddenly died (it was not the original controller), and I replaced that with a Kelly controller. Now everything seems to run better, farther, and quicker than it did when it was new.

 Just 6,600 miles.