ElectricMotorcycleForum.com

Thanks guys,

I'll dig a little deeper to make sure that the comparison is fairer.  It's a bit hard sometimes with the way they present their specs.

I should have also mentioned: my goal is not to make an exhaustive list of every electric motorcycle that was, almost was, and then wasn't (it looks like that's what this book does).  I just want a "brief" list of bikes that are the most likely to go to market so I can quickly check it from time to time to help me with my next bike purchase.

Thanks again for the feedback!  Anything else?  Any obvious brand that I missed?

According to this article, "it’s been officially confirmed by the American manufacturer, is that the LiveWire is fitted with a manual gearbox"  https://imotorbike.my/news/2018/09/this-is-the-2019-harley-davidson-livewire.

That's too bad...

What I don't understand is how you ended up just handing the bike back to them.  You must have been livid.

Yes, I was.  But also, I live about 2.5 hours away from the dealership, which includes a 45 minute ferry ride.  I couldn't imagine paying a tow truck for a 5 hour round trip + ferry fare to get that piece of $hit back home.  What would I do next, pay again to get it back to the dealership at some point?  Of course you can debate whether that was the right decision or not.  I'm still debating that myself.

To those thinking of buying a later model Zero: I'm sure the new bikes are much more reliable.  At the time, I was willing to take a credit for the dead 2013 DS and fork another $15k to get a new 2017 DSR but they weren't interested in keeping me as a customer.  The main reason I'm sharing this is not to argue that their bikes are crap.  Mine was, but it could be a one off.  The main reason I'm sharing this is just to give an example of how Zero deals with issues when things do go bad.  Knowing that now, I can't see myself dealing with a company like that, so that leaves me waiting for the competitors to become available in Canada...  Unless they somehow reach out to me and offer me a really sweat deal, very convincing reassurance that it was all a mistake, and a sincere apology (eh I'm Canadian, that matters ).  But I'm really not expecting anything like that to happen.

Anyways, you guys are a really supportive group.  I'll miss you and I'll miss my electric motorcycle for sure.  When it worked, it was a great bike.  I can't wait for there to be more options!  Until next time... 

Hi Brandon,

Thank you so much for the update.  I was starting to worry that you had dropped the project.  I'm sorry to hear of all the $h!# that's going on, but I'm happy that you're still at it.  Keep it up and keep us in the loop, we're all with you!

My charger is a game changer.  I haven't been able to use it as much as I would have wanted to now that winter is here, but the few longer rides that I've been on have been amazing.

Best of luck!

I got a chance to test locking the throttle open while charging (with the kickstand down and the kill switch off) and it seems to work: I left the bike alone for more than an hour and the contactor stayed closed the whole time.  This simple trick will make a huge difference next time I need to charge for more than half-an-hour.  Thanks Brian!

Does anyone know of it's possible to change the timeout value so the bike can stay on longer?

Right now the contractor opens after about 30 minutes of idle time, which stops the Super Charger.  The alternative is to stay close and "rev" the motor slightly before the timeout to reset the clock but it would be nice to park it and have lunch across the street while it charges.

For me, I'd prefer to have the Super Charger "permanently" integrated into the bike (in the tank) and extra batteries to be swapable.

For most trips, I don't mind not being able to make it all the way there if I can charge fast and keep going.  The short 45 min breaks are actually nice so having a permanent Super Charger is key.

But there's actually a few destinations that I can't currently reach with my 11.4kWh pack right now because the charging stations are too far apart.  Being able to add even just 2 extra battery packs for those occasions would open up even more riding opportunities.

Question: putting the structural problem aside, how does connecting extra packs to the controller work in terms of software?  Do you have to change anything or can you just add more capacity the bike just sees the voltage drop more slowly and computes the percentage left from that?

Call me interested!