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[cirrus pete]

I agree with FLAR here. Not sure about where the law stands regarding the onus of putting Confidential on materials versus an implied confidentiality, but if you are at all concerned, I would err on the side of caution. I would think that things like 0-60 speeds are less of an issue than say the battery tech or engine tech data, as the 0-60 speeds are measurable by the user community. Of course, someone who owns the bike could also do an "unboxing" and break it down to learn about it too.

[trikester]

What bothers me is that (as I recall) they said they were changing to Lithium Polymer batteries in the 2013 models. From what I have learned, in my electric R/C model airplane hobby, those are the most dangerous from a burning standpoint and burn at 3,000 degrees F. It would be very tempting to use them, because they have the highest power density. That's why most R/C fliers use them, but we are very careful with how we treat them.

Trikester

[Richard230]

Looking at the material makes me believe that they are more aimed at informing the press, potential investors or new dealers about the factory's history and current improvements than for providing detailed technical information regarding Zero's technology.  The material seems sort of general in nature to me and when I see one of the first pages that discusses the location of the bathrooms (which I never did see during my tour of the Zero factory      ), I suspect that this was part of a slide-show presentation and not what we might consider a technical manual.  With this information could you duplicate a Zero motorcycle?  I don't think I could.

[protomech]

What bothers me is that (as I recall) they said they were changing to Lithium Polymer batteries in the 2013 models. From what I have learned, in my electric R/C model airplane hobby, those are the most dangerous from a burning standpoint and burn at 3,000 degrees F. It would be very tempting to use them, because they have the highest power density. That's why most R/C fliers use them, but we are very careful with how we treat them.

Trikester

Keep in mind that Lithium Polymer is a general type of lithium ion battery. It does not describe the chemistry.

The EIG C020 prismatic cells (PDF) in the 2012 bikes are also lithium ion polymer, chemistry NMC.

From Battery University:

To make the modern Li-polymer battery conductive at room temperature, gelled electrolyte is added. All Li-ion polymer cells today incorporate a micro porous separator with moisture. The correct term is “Lithium-ion polymer” (Li-ion polymer or Li-polymer for short). Li-polymer can be built on many systems, such as Li-cobalt, NMC, Li-phosphate and Li-manganese. For this reason, Li-polymer is not considered a unique battery chemistry. Most Li-polymer packs for the consumer market are based on Li-cobalt.

Cell safety is partly chemistry, partly construction.. lithium cobalt cells, like the Dreamliner, are pretty unstable. Most RC lipo is lithium cobalt.

A more stable chemistry, like lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4 or sometimes LiFeMnPO4) or NMC would be significantly safer.

[ZeroSinMA]

I agree with FLAR here. Not sure about where the law stands regarding the onus of putting Confidential on materials versus an implied confidentiality, but if you are at all concerned, I would err on the side of caution. I would think that things like 0-60 speeds are less of an issue than say the battery tech or engine tech data, as the 0-60 speeds are measurable by the user community. Of course, someone who owns the bike could also do an "unboxing" and break it down to learn about it too.

Zero yanked the docs right quick. That tells us everything we need to know re the confidentiality of the docs, regardless of markings to that effect.

I doubt anyone at Zero got fired over this but I bet you someone got yelled at.

[trikester]

Thanks for clearing up the meaning behind the term "li-polymer". So the term polymer just refers to cell construction, not cell chemistry. That's good to know. 

Trikester