ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2012 and older => Topic started by: lolachampcar on October 02, 2012, 03:15:13 AM
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I bought my 9DS from a dealer about 150 miles down the turnpike from my house. I drove my trade in up to the dealer, picked up the bike and tried to make the 52 miles to the first service plaza where a bud was meeting me with a truck. I put the bike in Eco mode for the six or so miles of 45 mph followed by the remainder at 70 tucked up behind trucks. My gage started blinking at 43 miles so I pulled over and had my friend collect me a little further up the road. This was my first experience with the advertised range versus reality.
I spoke with Zero and received the normal give it thirty charge cycles and the range will come up. I am well past that now and have been reluctant to test the range. I love the bike and I am not going to give it up so knowing the actual range of my bike would probably just piss me off. That being said, I am curious about other's experience with range. My best guess is that my bike MIGHT make 60 miles at 60 mph on a very good day.
What kind of range have you experienced?
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My range on my 2012 S ZF6 has been pretty much as advertised -- I have done 45 miles on a combination of back roads and parkway driving at speeds between 40 mph and 70 mph. I had two bars flashing when I got home, so in theory, I could have gone another 5 - 10 miles or more (someone on this board said that there are two "virtual bars" left when you get to zero bars).
Remember that the advertised "freeway range" is not based on a constant 70 mph, but is based on one half the time at 70 mph and one half the time at 20 mph on local streets.
My regular commute is only 15 miles each way, on the freeway, and my experience so far has been that I use one to three bars each way, depending on traffic. Again, that is consistent with the advertised range, or even a little better than the advertised range.
Zero put out a pamphlet on range called "going electric.' Here's a link:
http://media.zeromotorcycles.com/resources/Zero_Motorcycles_Going_Electric_low_res.pdf (http://media.zeromotorcycles.com/resources/Zero_Motorcycles_Going_Electric_low_res.pdf)
As they say, YMMV ;)
--Karl
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On Saturday I rode my Zero S the 40 miles to my BMW dealer, traveling about 10 miles on the freeway at 60 mph and the rest on expressways at 40-50 mph. I charged up there for a couple of hours, adding 3 bars to the fuel gauge and rode back the same way. When I returned home I still had 4 bars showing on my gauge. One time I rode 100 miles without needing to recharge, about 10 miles were on the freeway at 55 mph and the rest of the trip was around 35-40 mph. It seems like my battery pack performance has improved somewhat since the bike was new. I now have 2700 miles on the clock. The secret to getting good range is to keep your speed low, open the throttle slowly and keep it steady, install a windshield and try to avoid headwinds and hills. All of which is common sense for anyone who is trying to get the best fuel mileage out of any vehicle.
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Remember that the advertised "freeway range" is not based on a constant 70 mph, but is based on one half the time at 70 mph and one half the time at 20 mph on local streets.
--Karl
For a ZF9, per Zero's specs, actual constant 70mph range works out to be 45 miles.
With my SZF6 (you should get 50% further on your DS9)
65 miles if you keep it mostly around 30-40 mph.
45 miles if you do 70% (~40mph) and 30% (~65mph)
30 miles if you go 65-70. (no headwind, some drafting, no tuck, I'm 6'3")
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The 45 miles at 70 mph is consistant with my bike's range. I guess I am more engineer than marketeer which makes it hard for me to understand that "freeway range" is based on half your time at 20 mph. It is a bit of the fine print that I missed.
That being said, they will have to pry the bike from my cold dead fingers. The quite, lack of rotational inertia corning and the comfort of not having the radiator blast you with heat at a traffic light is just fantastic. Thank you Zero.
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After about 7500 miles, with about 100 quick charges, my range actually went up. I could easily do 80-90 mies per charge with a lot of highway riding. Recently I have had a cell or two that are depleting a lot faster than the other cells and when they go dead, even though the SOC (state of charge is between 50% and 70%) the bike quits after 40-70 miles. if not for those cells I'll bet I could get 100-120 miles range now. Although i added an aerodynamic fairing too.
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Although i added an aerodynamic fairing too.
.... details?
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Crap just saw this. It's the front fairing off a ninja 250.
Pics on the www.facebook.com/lifeoffthegrid (http://www.facebook.com/lifeoffthegrid) page.
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I ride from New Jersey into NYC regularly making a 40 mile round trip and don't even use half the battery on 50% highway and 50% local roads. I rode 105 miles on one charge, but normally get about 8mi/kWh which gives me a little more than 70 miles per charge.
The 105 mile ride review is here:
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1077745_can-a-2012-zero-s-electric-motorcycle-really-cover-100-miles (http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1077745_can-a-2012-zero-s-electric-motorcycle-really-cover-100-miles)
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Did my 45 mile ride through Harriman State Park again this morning. Still had two flashing bars left on the Zero S ZF6.
What a glorious morning for a ride through the woods! :D
--Karl
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Just got my speed controller firmware updated and it seems as though I am using one less bar on my morning trip (22 miles - 70% @ 60mph). Perhaps my controller was unhappy from day one ??
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I'm getting a consistent 6 miles/bar at 60 MPH for about 66 miles/charge on the freeway (ZF9). I have about 5K miles on the bike and haven't noticed any range degradation.
When I got my bike it had the wrong "main bike board" (intended for a ZF6), so I wasn't getting anywhere near the advertised range, but after the repairs it's much closer to advertised.
Congrats on the new toy and enjoy the ride!
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OK, now I'm really starting to wonder if I should just do a range check.
When you ride your steady 60 mph, how do you handle the end of the ride when you are on empty? Do you ride to the red light or just till the last bar goes out?
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My worst range with my ZF6F was 38 miles. My best was 55 miles with my wife on the back through Arches National Forest, we had lots of hills but slow speed limits and I had 3 bars left at the end of that ride! I have noticed that I get better range when air temp is 80 - 90 degrees. I also seem to get better range in sport mode as I can coast further without the regen kicking in. I am 5'9" and 155 pounds.
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OK, now I'm really starting to wonder if I should just do a range check.
When you ride your steady 60 mph, how do you handle the end of the ride when you are on empty? Do you ride to the red light or just till the last bar goes out?
I have ridden my '12 ZF6 long past the last bar. What I discovered is that it doesn't just 'stop'. I lose power, top speed & acceleration a little at a time: where with WOT the best I can do is 50, then 40, then 30, etc. Lots of warning/notice that you're coming to the end. I suppose at some point the bike would just 'stop' - but you seem to have quite a bit of time in "moped' mode before that would happen.
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You should only use that "below the bars range" as an emergency because running low voltages will hurt your battery cells.