So, to sum up this trip now that I am back, here is the last post about it.
The trip back went pretty smooth in fact, as I had pinned down all working type 2 charging stations on the way back, as well as precalculated which ones to use to not run out of juice at any point. This made it so much more enjoyable to ride, as I could focus on the environment and not just obsess about the remaining range and if the next charging station would work out or not.
I was able to take many detours confidently, and generally enjoyed the trip so much more this way. I still had to stop frequently for charging though, and a fun fact is that the whole trip probably cost me only about 10 USD in electricity fees (I charged several times for free near the tent sites, at my friends home or just at regular free charging spots). So, 1300km, 10 USD in fuel.
This does sound really amazing, but, there is a cost that was a bit unexpected. Due to the long charging time, I would generally go to a cafe or similar while waiting. So, bike charging, 1USD. Me buying snack, tea or something to eat while waiting, 15-20 USD. With something like 20 charging stops in total, it cost a lot more to fuel me on the trip than the bike, and I think I gained several kg. An unexpected side effect.
The only other unexpected event on the way back was that our government recently decided that it is no longer allowed to charge electric vehicles out of a wall outlet using the Schuko charger. I was unaware of this, and noone bothered to interfere with this on the trip out, but going back I was blocked from charging this way. That caused some drama as I was relying on this to make one of the stretches. But, I turned on the charm, and a camping boss lady let me charge with the Schuko anyways as long as I promised to not tell anyone. (Oops)
Bless all kind and helpful people. Again they saved me, that is twice for this trip.
Would I have done this 1300km trip again? Probably not with my SR/F as it stands now. Relying on blind luck and living in range anxiety is an unnecessary drag when all you want is to enjoy the trip. Driving so far alone on a MC is tiring enough already, and in itself a challenge.
I have put the Zero on service, and they are now running diagnostics/sending the logs to Zero. So, hopefully they find there is something wrong causing the short range estimation that can be fixed within the warranty.
If this is the normal behavior, I guess it is the last long trip this Zero will see before I sell it. 80-90km range is just too far from convenient, but having said that, it did behave much better on the way back after my range bug reset trick. So, it looked more like 100km that way, heavily dependent on slope and speed though.
I would set the lower limit to 150km minimum real life range before I would try anything like this again. Having the range anxiety out of the equation would increase the joy 1000%.
I expect to hear back from the service spot this week, will add a note about what they found regarding that range problem once I know more.
One final note, that might help someone else. I realized the traction control was not doing what I expected outside the bikes normal comfort zone in the city.
At some point I had no option but to drive on a small dirt road, and the Zero did not like that one bit. The ride was just 50 meters, but some wet grass was all it took for the back wheel to spin out of control, making the motorbike slide and I lost control over it so it fell over. It was not very dramatic, it happened at a low speed like 10km/h and it fell gently on soft ground without a scratch. But, my foot got caught under somehow and one week later it is still painful. No permanent damage luckily. Thanks to all my protective gear, it could have been worse.
I was probably ignorant, but I imagined the traction control would have caught this. Now I know better. I wish I had a better understanding of what to expect from it before finding out like this. The tires and driving mode must be tweaked very accurately for the exact conditions for Traction Control to come to the rescue I suppose.
Speaking of protection, for the trip I wore a new Shoei helmet, with the latest Sena intercom which allowed me to use the assistant on my smartphone handsfree. That was really nice, and I could easily tell Spotify what to play, ask questions about navigation, ask about local weather forecast and so on.
The phone was mounted on the steering bar, so I could check maps visually in complex areas. I brought a large capacity charger for the phone, which was very handy due to the enormous battery drain when using Google Maps and Spotify continuously for the whole day. I put the charger in the glove compartment, and let the smartphone be charged through an USB cable that fits nicely through the small crack in front of the hatch. Being able to use my smartphone safely and efficiently really helped to keep the spirit high through the many days driving. (I am aware there is an USB charging plug already in the glove compartment btw, but I found it is super slow and also does not work when the bike is off. I would also not risk impacting the range in a negative way by charging anything extra.)
I also wore a airbag west anchored to the MC. Luckily it was never needed, but it is a good idea for such a long trip. I wore a pair of 100% Kevlar jeans, a nice looking leather jacket with the usual padding and spine protection built in, boots supported with metal tip and metal plated soles and thick padded gloves. Finally a full body raincoat in neon yellow, to protect against cold wind in the mountain and rain when necessary. Was always comfortable through rain and freezing cold over the mountain using this gear. And the casual looking Kevlar jeans and leather jacket made me blend in nicely at all stops, well protected and comfortable without looking like some astronaut.
I was also happy I brought some kind of bandana (not sure what the English word is) to cover my neck, I would definitively have caught a cold on such a long trip over the mountain in 7-8C without one. One of those things it is easy to not think of, but is invaluable, as the wind only need a tiny gap to silently give you a cold without you noticing.
And finally, earplugs. Absolutely 100% necessary even with a quiet Zero when driving far at high speeds. At one point one of the plugs did not sit right, and the next time I stopped I could actually notice the hearing was a bit reduced on the ear not wearing it right. Wind noise at 100mk/h in windy areas is actually quite bad for you, so take care.
Ok, rounding off here, thanks for reading, hope some of it was interesting/useful. Cheers.
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Topic: My long roadtrip experience with SR/F in Norway (Read 1980 times)