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[Kocho]

It should be noted that what matters is the internal battery temperature, not the air temp. If the bike is garaged and warm, I expect the range you will get out of it in 80F and in 50F will be the about same - the battery tends to keep its temperature pretty good over a short hour or two ride, IMO. Now if your bike lives outdoor and its battery cools off overnight, the range will likely suffer. I have no experience with this situation as mine is always garaged

I did a "range test" a couple weekends ago on my 2015 DS 12.5. A cold front came in between my rides.

Ride 1 - 124.5 miles, 4% remaining, average speed 40 mph, average ambient was around 80 F

Ride 2 - 128 miles, 0% remaining, average speed 40 mph, average ambient was around 65 F

These were one-way rides. Ride 1 was from home to a farmhouse with some elevation loss. Ride 2 was back home a couple days later, some elevation gain.

I was pleased with the range. Bike has 10,500 mi on odometer.

[markmaxwell]

I have not purchased the kill-a-watt meter yet, so it is still a guess about how many kwh are being used while charging. 
I did verify that the percentage on the app matches the percentage on the display.  I used 27% on my ride this morning.  It took one hour and nine minutes (1:09) to fully recharge at 240V.
The app indicated 12.064 kwh available at 100% before starting the ride, and 11.98 kwh available when it was back to 100% after charging. Isn't it supposed to be 13.0 kwh available at 100%?

[Richard230]

I have not purchased the kill-a-watt meter yet, so it is still a guess about how many kwh are being used while charging. 
I did verify that the percentage on the app matches the percentage on the display.  I used 27% on my ride this morning.  It took one hour and nine minutes (1:09) to fully recharge at 240V.
The app indicated 12.064 kwh available at 100% before starting the ride, and 11.98 kwh available when it was back to 100% after charging. Isn't it supposed to be 13.0 kwh available at 100%?

No it is not.  That 13.0 rating for your battery pack is a "nominal" rating and not the amount of power that the Zero BMS allows the pack to be charged to. It doesn't allow the pack to be fully charged to that nominal rating in order to protect your cells from being over or under charged, which could damage them. Your app shows exactly what you should see for a ZF 13.0 Zero.  So you got what you paid for.   

[mrwilsn]

Max rating for ZF13 is 13kWh. Nominal rating is 11.4kWh.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[ctrlburn]

Our local library system circulates Killawatt meters, as do many others.

Search for "killawatt|kill-a-watt loan program" in your area.

[Electric Terry]

The app indicated 12.064 kwh available at 100% before starting the ride, and 11.98 kwh available when it was back to 100% after charging. Isn't it supposed to be 13.0 kwh available at 100%?

12 kWh usable is correct.  Others with a 2016 might post their kWh too.  Mine is 14 kWh with a powertank but its a 2015 which is the 12.5 monolith not 13.0.

[Ndm]

I have a 2013 with the 2016 battery and the highest I have seen is 12.06kwh ,average is typically 11.98kwh, my best ride was 145kms with 5percent remaining, mixed riding and hilly terrain

[markmaxwell]

OK, I probably do not have a problem with the battery.  The range is still disappointing.

Has anyone added batteries carried where saddle bags would go? I do not see a product like this on the Zero website.  I would like a pair of battery packs with an enclosure on top that is big enough to store cords and adapters. They should also be wired to the monolith to be integrated as part of the power supply. Two 3.3kw modules would add 50% to my range and improve my options for recharging.

I think a fairing would help, and maybe my bike needs lubrication; it does squeak a lot.

[Kocho]

So, we did all this wonderful analysis, but it still does not explain why the original poster, with a '16 DS 13kW battery is only getting under 60 miles range at a speed under 70 mph at warm temperatures. Provided what he wrote is correct, this is way less than the expected range... In a similar situation I would get at least another 20 miles out of my 12kW '15 SR

I have had my Zero DS13 for 3 months, and have not had the same experience that I am seeing in this thread.  My range seems close to the 9.8kwh version of the DS, but even then, I sometimes come up short. I do not have an in town comparison, but on the freeway at 65-70 mph in Eco mode it required recharging to make it home after 32 miles. I estimate the freeway range at 56 miles.
Several days ago I sent the following to Zero Inc (they have not responded yet):
I recently rode through town about 5 miles and out a country highway for 34 miles. The ride was steady at 55 mph except for slowing down for curves in the road and accelerating gradually back up to 55 mph. There was a net gain of 2,000 feet in elevation going out, so I figured that I was safe to make it back if I turned around at 50% power.
Although I drove with the same gentle acceleration and at slightly slower speeds on the return trip, I was down to 0% power after a total of 75 miles (68 miles highway and 7 miles in town).  I was able to continue for the last 3 miles with 0% power on the display, but I still had full power for acceleration and maintaining speed for those last three miles through town.
It is possible that the reduced range going mostly down hill on the return trip was due to wind direction.  In any event, my range is very close to what would be expected with a 9.8 kwh battery pack. I suggest that there is either a battery module missing or one is not connected.
I thought of one other possibility.  If the on board computer calculates the remaining range based upon the energy used, it could be that the settings in the computer are for the 9.8 kwh battery back even though there is a 13.0 kwh battery pack on board. Is this possible?

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

It's true that we have no explanation for Mark, and it's baffling.

A couple of thoughts just in case Mark or someone can make sense of them:

• 2000 ft elevation change is something, but I don't think we know how much of a factor offhand it should represent. And it's not clear that that is a strong factor - his range apparently suffers without it.
• Dash indications is an interesting mention. I know that Wh/mi readings are typically ~15% below what a gross measure indicates (taking percent capacity change and dividing by miles over a longer course), but that does not account for the discrepancy.
• Winds can be a big factor if they're strong enough and the rider does not crouch/tuck. Mark lists himself as in Temecula, CA which is south of Los Angeles. I don't know whether the winds are a factor right now but Santa Ana winds are infamous: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_winds

I know from experience that range can drop off precipitously if heading into 30mph winds with gusts. Once, heading north on 101 in the central valley in the mid-afternoon when the daily wind is strongest, I had an effective range of 60 miles or so if I'd stayed at 60mph, so I slowed down for that to conserve my charge.

[Richard230]

Perhaps one of the brakes is dragging due to a caliper piston that is not retracting?

(BTW, my 2014 S ZF14.2 shows 13.34 kWh on the app when fully charged.)

[GdB]

I commute to work, 20 miles total, 17.5 miles on the freeway at full speed as much as possible.  So when I get back home every day after 40 miles, I have 10% to 20% depending on how much traffic I encounter.  I always go full throttle, and at about the half to 3/4 distance the power is reduced but I can still go 84-90 MPH because I'm always in a tuck.  So I have about 44 to 50 miles range, but this is worst case.  I have followed trucks at 55 MPH and noticed the % going down very slow, maybe 100 to 200 miles range.

Is it safe for the battery to drive past 0%?  In my i-MiEV when I hit zero bars (0%) it goes into turtle mode and there is 10 miles range left going less than 55 MPH.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Is it safe for the battery to drive past 0%?

You own a 2014 - probably not too safe to do this regularly, given the type of cells and problems people have reported with power loss at low SoC due to cell imbalance. At the very least, I'm sure you plug it in immediately when you get home, which would be good to keep the cells from sitting in that state for too long. 80%-20% is the SoC range that puts less stress on the battery over time.

[Richard230]

Is it safe for the battery to drive past 0%?

You own a 2014 - probably not too safe to do this regularly, given the type of cells and problems people have reported with power loss at low SoC due to cell imbalance. At the very least, I'm sure you plug it in immediately when you get home, which would be good to keep the cells from sitting in that state for too long. 80%-20% is the SoC range that puts less stress on the battery over time.

I ran my 2014 S, with PT, down to 0% once.  Just a soon as it said 0% the bike completely stopped and I could only get it to move about 100 feet at a time by turning off the ignition and let it sit for a minute for the voltage to rise a bit, before turning the ignition on again and traveling another 100 feet.  Fortunately that got me up the hill to my home.  So my recommendation is that if you have a 2014 model, you probably don't want to run your battery pack down that far.      Zero means zero.   

[JaimeC]

I was told most electric cars actually have 20% charge left when they read zero.  This is to protect the cells from running completely down causing a condition where the battery might catch fire when charging.  Is this the same for Zero?

In any event, repeatedly running the bike down to an indicated 0% doesn't seem like a good idea to me.  These aren't NiCad batteries (where it WAS a good idea to run them completely down before charging).