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[david.i.wells]

Gents & Ladies,

I just bought a 2011 DS.  Love it.. fun to drive.  But the max range is between 24 and 26 miles.  Manual says 58.  So guessing that the battery is going.  The bike only has 800 miles on it.  I am considering rebuilding the pack.  This may take time, and I don't have a shop to work in. 

I understand how to string the cells...  but the BMS wiring ... that's another story.  Hoping to find a dead battery so I can understand how to rewire that portion of the battery.

I know Moli doesn't make the IMR-26700A cells and they replaced that model with the IBR-26700A .  I am currently in search of IBR-26700A cells.

Furthermore, upon some researching I discovered that the last production of the IMA batteries was in 2009.. so my DS was built and likely many/all 2011, 2010, and 2009's were made with 2009 or older cells.

I'd like to rebuild the battery with the one on the bike intackt.. thus, I can play with the dead one while still riding the 1/2 dead one.

ZERO quoted me 6000 for a replacement battery.  They offered me $6000 on a trade in for a new bike, but that means spending 10,000.  Or worse financing $10,000. 

Like most here I was looking to save money...  If I can locate a seller of the IBR cells I think I can rebuild the pack for close to $2,000

I'm very interested in a dead ZERO 2011 DS Battery.

[Richard230]

When the magazines tested the 2011 Zero shortly after it was introduced they were getting around 20-25 miles from a charge.  It sounds to me like your battery is still in pretty good shape.  If you want to get that claimed 58 mile range just try riding around at 15 mph for the entire distance.   

[david.i.wells]

Wow,
I didn't know.  That's kind of disappointing.  I was getting all geared up to do a rebuild...  Now I question if I need to just get a new bike.

[MrDude_1]

Wow,
I didn't know.  That's kind of disappointing.  I was getting all geared up to do a rebuild...  Now I question if I need to just get a new bike.

The older bikes used round cells in a square box. The newest bikes use flat cells packed in tight taking up all the space, and uses the tiny area between the tabs to house the electronics. There is just physically more battery in there.
While I like Zero, it wasnt until their latest bikes that they moved from glorified electric bicycles into real motorcycles.  Their older stuff is good for what they are, you would be hardpressed to build something better yourself, but they are what they are.  If it meets your needs, it can be great. If it doesnt quite fit what you need, I wouldnt try to wedge it in to fit. You'll just endup hating it.

[Doctorbass]

What you need is to replace these cells by the Nissan Leaf modules ( the 2s2p modules...) you need 7 of these and will get the same true capacity of the original Zero pack but with very high quality cells. These can be bought at hybridautocenter website. and... these fit perfectly in teh original 4.3kWh box

DOc

[Erasmo]

There's also that build with the Tesla batteries floating around on the internet.