Comments on: Zero 2012: More Power, Range and Sleeker Styling (Bike Reports) (News)

By: ERic

ERic — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:03:22 +0000

I have tested 2 Zero’s and 1 Brammo in the last year – all were lame and very slow compared to the 1993 Honda XL 200 I rode to the tests on – and the test rides were out in the suburbs – 35 miles from the centre of the city where I live – I would not have made it there and back on any electric…but I made it on 1 gallon of gasoline, available almost everywhere…
The Zeros that I rode were 50%+ down on charge after a ten minute, throttle pinned wfo test ride… these bikes are slow, with really dangerously weak brakes – the old school drum brakes on my old XL were twice as powerful…and the rock hard tires didn’t have as much cornering grip as the dual purpose semi-knobby tires on my little XL…and the steering geometry was somehow just wrong feeling… As was the crummy suspension – Now that KTM is in the e-bike game, I look forward to trying an electric built by a real motorcycle manufacturer, that knows how to make one feel and perform more like a real motorcycle.

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By: eric

eric — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:45:16 +0000

I think it might sell better in “mega scooter” form since city dwellers (for commuting) and those who don’t care about image are likely buyers (oh, and with money to actually buy one). Or how about a 3 wheeled version for poeple who are scars of 2 whelers. could fit a larger battery and have storage space. Ccost and weight wouddl go up and range would likely go down (to keep a sane price – can’t have a battery much larger than 9kwhr) though…

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By: mudnducs

mudnducs — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:37:01 +0000

hold that thought….if you’d accept your government telling you what you can and can’t have…they’re about to give you what you just said you’d accept.

electric bikes are for giving PC thinkers a warm fuzzy.

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By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:38:42 +0000

So it sound like these types of batteries aren’t good for leaving on a trickle charger. That would seem ill-advised for these types of bikes. If I had one, I’d want to be able to just leave it plugged in when not using it and be able to assume it was 100% charged and ready to go when I’m ready to ride. If the battery were to lose juice over time but I can’t trickle charge the thing to keep it topped up, then some other battery type would seem to be a better solution.

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By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:06:41 +0000

None, but you can go from empty to full on a traditional bike in about 4 minutes. With this….not so much. That’s still the single biggest drawback of electric vehicles.

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By: william

william — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:43:27 +0000

What I want more information on is the regenerative braking. In mountain areas you often go up and down quite a bit. It seems like the regen braking would provide some slowing of the wheel like compression braking on a gas bike. That would be nice, as well as some charging. I wonder how effective it is at actually providing some useful charging though. I quess anything is better than nothing, but I would like to see more detail on it. It’s a neat concept.

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By: william

william — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:29:27 +0000

Their web page has that info in the specifications. Depending on the battery capacity for the various bikes, .32, .63, or .95 dollar to full charge. They list some equivalent fuel milages, in mpg, 267, 480.

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By: Motorhead

Motorhead — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:45:40 +0000

The thing I don’t see is how much electricity is required to run the charger? What is the everage electric cost to charge a unit like this every day and how does that compare to fuel at the cost of 3.50 per gallon on a bike that gets 40 mpg?

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By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:15:56 +0000

The main thing is the chemisty and charge/discharge profile of the batteries. These bikes use lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, which are well liked by rc hobbyists for their robustness and tolerance of abuse. This chemistry tends not to care how far down it’s discharged, charged, over amped, etc. (caused by their astounding resistance to heat; a lithium ion battery would be destroyed at about 180* Fahrenheit, while a lithium iron battery can reasonably stand up to about 300* Fahrenheit). Now, if you totally trash the battery, it will suffer internal damage, but this chemistry tends not to be as dramatically affected as lithium ion. As for why a laptop battery goes south after not too long: 1) cheap cells – because a laptop typically won’t drain as many amps as a motor application, the cells used are usually cheaper with higher internal resistance, which isn’t good for longevity. 2) unintentionally abusive charge/discharge cycles – leaving a lithium ion battery idle with a trickle charger is rather damaging to its internal structure; discharging too far also eats into its life. Most of this is from casual experience with multiple battery chemistries, so this may well be a crock of manure, but I encourage you to research into just how wrong I may be. I hope I helped; if not, let me know and I’ll retract my statements.

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By: MarkF

MarkF — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:28:19 +0000

I guess just not for me. The speed and range would be great, on a scooter. I might even buy one if it had traditional styling, like a Vespa. But even a TU250 style commuter I would rather have a gas bike with the range and easy of refuel. Sorry…

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