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[benswing]

It appears as though our friend Brandon Miller, aka the Electric Cowboy, has been busy developing a charge tank that fits Zero Motorcycles.  Looks like it is about 4.1kW of charging power. 

Here is a link to a photo on his facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203227137380194&set=a.10201925855008948.1073741834.1261517185

This is an exciting development. 

Brandon, are you sure you can't squeeze in 2-3 more kW of charging so we can use the full potential of public J1772 plugs?   

[Justin Andrews]

Very interesting, I'll be keeping an eye on this.

[Doctorbass]

Charging at 4.1kW will be  really amazing.. ! Everybody that experienced fast charging are very happy and this really change the experience on the Zero.

Charging at 6.6kW is ALSO really amazing =))))       even when I add the onboard charger I get 7.6kW witch take about 2hours to fully charge my usable 13kWh on my 2012 S. ( my ZF15 upgrade)

Believe me guys when you taste what it is you just can't go back and just use a 1 or 1.3kW charger!!!

When I get a 30A J1772 station I use my triple stack meanwell for 6.6kW and when there is 40+ A available on the J1772 I also connect the onboard charger  for a total of 7.6kW.

This way, travelling with the zero become realistic!

What Brandon is making by installing high power in the gas tank is a very good idea!. On my side I use a tank bag to stack the 6.6kW charger I have build. My choice was to not have to protect against water infiltration, moisture and high vibrations.  I just have  remove the charger when I want to. 

Brandon will need to work serious on the electronic of the charger for protections.. well depending on witch kind of charger he install.

I recommend to everybody to think seriously about that great idea of getting a high power charger! the nexts  rides you make  will be just better! you feel juice is everywhere, no more worrie.. no need to wait houres even an entire day before continuing your ride!

Doc

[trikester]

Unfortunately, the most places I ride only have 120 VAC @ 20 amps available (a standard outlet). 

My most recent experience, however, was an interesting one. I rode to a wind farm for a tour and while there my FX was recharged by wind power. Still, it was from a standard 120 V outlet. They ran an extension cord out of the maintenance shop. I was surprised that a generating station with over 100 turbines didn't have a single outside power outlet.

They did confirm that all of my recharging power came from the wind turbines and none from the utility they sell power to. That was a first for me. So now I have recharged the FX from a high mountain spring powering a small turbine and a wind turbine. Next I need to look for a solar charging source.

Trikester

[LiveandLetDrive]

2.6kW from two QuiQ's and the FX's onboard charger is a nice rate for a full 5.0kWh charge in an hour.  If I were putting something together for the FX I would want at least that onboard.  This has probably been mentioned elsewhere but have safe max charging rates been established given unlimited 120/240V wall power?  (For S/SR/DS vs. FX packs.)

[CScalpeL]

Anyone look at using a Zivan SG6 for a charge tank? There is a 96V version, it's programmable, IP65 (no weatherproofing necessary), only 5 kg and the dimensions look good, you could get two in there to get 4.4 kW (5.8 kW in conjunction with the onboard charger)...

http://www.zapiinc.com/sites/default/files/zivan_scheda_SG6OK.pdf

Would have to orient the heat sinks outward to allow for efficient cooling but from what I can tell it looks like a good candidate or am I missing something?

[nigezero]

Wow that does look good

[firepower]

That white on black printing is terrible for a brochure. Can some one explain the charge times.

G6MHQ9-12000Q
Model Type: 96 21
Input: 230Vac 15A
Output: 96Vdc 18A 21Amax
Charge Time: 85 ÷ 130, 145 ÷ 175, 185 ÷ 200 

Looks like the case is the heatsink. You need to vent the bottom of storage container, mounting two back to back on ducted heatsink with fan cooling.

HH8530

here is the SG6 Manual .pdf

Manual SG6 CAN



 

[ultrarnr]

Just a reminder for those contemplating building a charger for the Power Tank compartment. You can not charge at 6.6kw from every L2 station. If you build a 6.6 kw charger you are going to need to have it set up to be able to charge at reduced levels. With my SR I have 2 2500 watt Elcons and can use the internal charger for a total of 6300 watts max. But sometimes when I plug all of that in I will trip the breaker on the L2 station. So sometimes I have to disconnect the internal charger and can only charge at 5000 watts. Had a Blink system that I had to go down to 3800 watts which is one Elcon and the internal charger. Until Blink upgrades their L2 systems with a power cord that can actually handle 6.6 kw without overheating you will not be able to charge at 6.6 from any of them. Eaton systems work great and most will charge at 6.6 kw but have come across a few that I had to drop down to 5000 watts.

[CScalpeL]

Thanks for the input on substandard L2 stations, I guess it would make sense to put a switch to select which chargers to operate at different stations.

I like the ducted heat sink idea, another thing I noticed was the low power factor (0.66).

How problematic is that?

 Will it only result in a higher electric bill and/or will I have to increase the current capacity of the input circuitry to accommodate for the unused AC as well?

[trikester]

The low PF shouldn't effect the power cost but it will impact the size of wiring and breaker needed.

Trikester

[Electric Cowboy]

  I'm glad to see everyone is finally getting on the fast charge band wagon! I built my first charge tank on Turbo, the 2013 S. It has gotten better since then and will be ready for purchase after we test the final prototype for a bit. Were building a final prototype in the next month. I think this will be the 4th edition prototype now. I just got in a bunch of parts from china and am waiting on a few more from the US for the build process. The charge tank is really optimal for everyday use. I have ridden all over California with it and now that its out for race season, I miss it sooooo much! It only takes about 20 min to put in or pull out so if I have any trips coming up, I'll be re-installing it. I currently have NO chargers on my bike, one at work, one at home and some at hollywood electrics.

The sizes available for the tank will be :
640 watts (just a little booster)  8.2 lbs
1280 watts 16.4 lbs
1920 watts 24.6 lbs
2560 watts 32.8 lbs

and these all work with the on board charger so you can add an extra 1300 to them each. The levels should all be safe for every J1772 station and still get you charged up in ~2 hours under most circumstances, if you run a 2015 down to 0% it will still be less than 3 hours to full. I tested

All of which are lighter than the power tank which weighs in at over 40lbs.

For those who already have a power tank and want a good solution, in the next few months we will be starting on a charger to help with that too. Just having discussions on how to proceed with it now so it may take a few months of development and another few months of testing.

My Odometer reads over 9K miles on my SR now since I got it!

[Justin Andrews]

Those figures will be useful when calculating shipping rates to the UK...

[Patrick Truchon]

[The charge tank] will be ready for purchase after we test the final prototype for a bit. Were building a final prototype in the next month. [...] I just got in a bunch of parts from china and am waiting on a few more from the US for the build process.

Thanks for the info and for getting back to me.  I'm really excited about a tank charger.  I asked Harlan about the 2500W Elcon charger and he said that: "It's possible to get the charger to fit underneath the tank with a little trimming of the heatsink." but the dimensions are  352mm×195mm×139mm and I seem to be about 100mm shy in length.

What charger does the 2560W use and what are the dimensions?  Do you have pictures?

Cheers!

[CScalpeL]

Cowboy, what input voltages will be supported?

I'd be very interested in the 2kW unit and I'd probably add a toggle switch for slow (stock charger), fast (tank charger) and faster (combined) charging selection depending on the infrastructure available...