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[blake]

Having not yet finalized the purchase of the Zero S-ZF9 that the local dealer is holding for me, I'd be interested to hear from owners (especially of 2012 ZF9 models) what your real-world experience with range under different riding conditions has been.  I have a 85km round trip ride to work that could be mostly freeway if the bike can do it (Zero claims 100km range at 70mph - but my experience on a brief test ride of a 2011 was that the battery drained by nearly half going just one exit on the highway and back again.

[protomech]

100km range at 70 mph? units explosion!

The bike does drain charge quickly at freeway speeds. Zero's range estimates for the ZF9 are approximately 42 miles at 70 mph only, or 63 miles at a 50/50 mix of city and highway miles. Assuming it uses about as much power at 55 mph as the XU does, it should get about 65 miles at 55 mph.

In my experience Zero's estimates are close. I don't use it on the interstate very often, so maybe others can chime in.

Here's my 20 mile roundtrip for dinner last night:
9.0 miles 45-50 mph
6.5 miles 55-60 mph
4.5 miles 75-80+ mph

20 miles total, used 5 of 11 bars - so about 44 miles in this type of riding.

Edit: you might look through this thread: http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=1929.0

[Richard230]

I own a ZF9 Zero S. If you stay off the freeway and keep your speeds under 50 mph, I would say that a real world range is about 70-80 miles. If you can ride between 30 to 40 mph, I can believe that the bike will run over 110 miles. At 70 mph, my guess is that your range will be no more than 40 miles (65 km). Of course if you have a tailwind, it will likely go further.  If you really need to go 85 km, you will need to slow down and control your throttle hand twitching - unless you can recharge at work. If you can do that, you won't have any worries commuting at 70 mph.  A 9-hour recharge at work will give you all the power you need to get home in style.   

[flar]

I am hoping to get a ZF9 for my commute, which includes about 4 miles of 45MPH and 33 miles of Highway 101 from the airport down to Santa Clara.  I then recharge at work and reverse the commute except that on 2 of the return commutes I stop off somewhere else to various evening activities.  Most of those stop offs (some of them are at a different restaurant every week) are usually fairly local and keep me off the highway more than a regular commute, so their effect on my range might not be that drastic.  On the occasions when I know that the stop off is a little off the beaten path I can always drive or use my other bike.

It's sounding like I might be able to get away with that on the ZF9.  The big issue will be the return commute where I might have to get off the highway and use El Camino Real for the last leg to get home.  I'm leaning towards the S for the slightly more inclined riding position (less wind fatigue if you lean into it) and the slightly longer range quotes must mean it has some mileage advantage.  I have a dual sport BMW that has only seen non-pavement twice in its lifetime, so I don't really need the off-road capabilities of the DS.

Mission Motorcycles has graciously offered to let me try a commute to see how it works (it would have to be an all day test ride since it involves a recharge at work, which is a bit much to ask), but on that count I'm worried that the demo bike they would provide might not have enough cycles on it to have fully balanced the battery so it might not be the best confirmation.  I'll have to chat with them a bit more about that...

[dkw12002]

If the demo didn't do it with a couple of bars left over, I sure wouldn't buy one for the commute. You don't want to arrive at work with the battery level gauge flashing at you unless you have nerves of steel. Besides, in time the battery slowly loses capacity. I would ride the hell out of that demo, going 75-80 mph if I could and staying on the highway as much as possible. You want to create the worst case scenarion...high speeds, fast take offs, WOT up any hills you can find, Sports Mode all the way.

[Richard230]

Flar, this morning I heard a news report on the radio that San Jose was installing some new charging stations in the downtown area. Naturally, they interviewed a fellow (you know how they love sound-bites), who said that he drove his Leaf from Marin County to San Jose every day, where he charged it up at work and then drove back home.  I think the Leaf has about the same government-estimated range as the Zero ZF9, although it probably gets better "mileage" at higher freeway speeds due to its more aerodynamic shape. Still, if that guy can go from Marin County to San Jose on a single charge, I would think a Zero ZF9 should get you down to Santa Clara, especially if you ride during commute hour.

The Mission Motorcycles demonstrator that I saw in January was a DS and I can't recall if it was the 9 kWh version (it is kind of hard to tell a 6 from a 9).  My guess is that the DS does not do quite as well as the S on the freeway due to its slightly lower gearing and taller profile. But if MM will let you try out their bike for a day, it would certainly be interesting to hear your comments after your test ride.

[flar]

If the demo didn't do it with a couple of bars left over, I sure wouldn't buy one for the commute. You don't want to arrive at work with the battery level gauge flashing at you unless you have nerves of steel. Besides, in time the battery slowly loses capacity. I would ride the hell out of that demo, going 75-80 mph if I could and staying on the highway as much as possible. You want to create the worst case scenarion...high speeds, fast take offs, WOT up any hills you can find, Sports Mode all the way.

Well, given how we killed 2 ZF6's going from Daly City to Millbrae and back, I'd be wary of being that aggressive.  But, 2 things about that shorter test ride mitigate that result - the one ZF6 I was on was brand new from the factory so the 9 bars it was reading were probably not calibrated and the cells had probably not been balanced either - and the ZF6 that the salesman was riding started out reading only 5 or 6 bars.  We didn't really do any WOT, but I did do some "surges" on the highway segment to see how much power the S had at highway speed (literally about 2 seconds of full power rollon, then settle back - a couple of times).  Plus we took the extremely hilly and lightly curvy Guadalupe Pkwy to get around the San Bruno mountain (tall hill).  The ride back was over the same hill again (probably should have taken a flatter return route) and an exercise in "how far can these things go on zero bars and reduced power" so I've experienced that part already. One bike didn't make it so the salesman gave me the other bike to limp back to the dealership on while he called for a tow.

If I did do the commute ride, I'd want to wait until they have a ZF9 demo ride that had gone through 4 or 5 charge cycles first.  And, since I'd be starting north of where I live, there would already be some margin for error built in so I don't think I'd push it that much...