Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Richard230]

Zero is updating their new motorcycle warranty program for the EU to 5 years and unlimited mileage. I assume that includes the entire motorcycle and not just the battery pack, as has been their previous warranty which covered the rest of the bike for two years. Here is a link to the news: https://thepack.news/riders-who-choose-zero-motorcycles-will-receive-a-five-year-warranty-with-unlimited-mileage/

[princec]

This is actually major news - the key issue with a Zero is the reliability and massive expensive of fixing stuff that shouldn't be breaking. This will considerably help the residual values of 2nd hand bikes. I hope they also offer an optional (paid) extended warranty feature like BMW does, which will further bolster 2nd hand residuals.

Cas

[TheRan]

Couldn't agree more. My bike is a 2019, functionally identical to a 2023 but worth far less than a 2021 because it has no warranty and it could be an expensive fix if anything goes bad (like I've just spent £240 replacing my throttle). And then next year once the battery warranty goes I think I'd be lucky to get back half what I paid for it if I decided to sell. And of course it helps convince new buyers too, it's not unusual for stuff to fail after a couple years (like my throttle, chargers) but if something manages to last 5 years that's probably a good sign it's going to keep going.

[Specter]

Guys, for all practical purposes.
The battery.
If you look at how an average rider uses the bike,  hint if you are putting 30k miles a year on the bike, while that is awesome! especially if you love riding like I do, that does, put you in the heavy use category.  not an average user  But...

If you do the math, a battery is good for what 2000 - 3000 cycles. At lets say 100 miles a pop.  That's 200 thousand miles of riding time before the battery would theoretically drop 20 percent of it's capacity.

How long in reality would that be for you to actually reach that many miles on your bike to hit that threshold for your battery.
Now if there is a design flaw, then yah it might die sooner and a warranty would be good, especially when you look at the past history for that company, but otherwise, most people are never going to get into the range of where their battery is pushing the threshold of being heavily worn.  Most Lith battery's are made to last about 8 years now, if you look at the standard warranties that are given for them now.

Extended battery warranty's to 5 years and stuff like that, are mostly manufacturing hype and sales gimmicks, unless you are a very heavy bike rider who actually DOES ride tens of thousands of miles / km per year.

Now with that being said, wow, a 5 year warranty on the entire bike would be a huge thing, because stuff does break from time to time and that is really pushing the outer envelope.  The crux might be availability of parts.  If, say, your brake handle breaks and you need a new one, and it takes the company 6 months to get it to you, that's not much of a warranty or service now is it?  If your bike is spending as much time in the shop as it does on the road, then no warranty is going to 'fix' what it's problems are.

Aaron

[princec]

The problem is that Zero's batteries were generally lasting a few thousand miles before being scrap.
And the chargers kept failing repeatedly. And the MBB and isolation issues. Etc. While I love my 2020 SR/F I wouldn't touch any one else's 2nd hand one with a (well insulated) bargepole, and this is reflected in the astoundingly tempting price. Which is still not low enough to tempt me. My own bike has been upgraded to be mostly 2023-level hardware but it's unlikely everyone else's got the same treatment. I won't be selling it because it's not worth selling - it'll go to Mrs. P. and I'll just have to fork out for a brand new bike when the time comes.

Cas

[TheRan]

It doesn't really matter how long a battery should last, under average usage and barring anything going wrong. The thing is things can and do go wrong and it could be something that takes a little while to take effect and not just a defective cell that shows up within the first hundred miles. Water could find its way in somewhere and slowly cause corrosion, either the battery itself or some other component that could damage the battery. While it is unlikely and after a certain period that likelihood decreases (because if it was going to happen it probably would have) it's still a possibility, a gamble that someone is taking when buying an out of warranty bike that they may end up having to pay an additional £4k+.

[JaimeC]

So once again, those of us in the US are getting screwed.  First the lack of the 14.4kWh batteries in the S and DS, and now this.

Remind me:  In what country is Zero based. again??

[TheRan]

So I clicked through and read the actual article to see if there was any additional information and it turns out the extended warranty is being provided by Zurich Insurance Group, however that works. I'm guessing it's less Zero's choice to be nice to the Euros and shaft the Yanks and more ZIG made them an offer and they took it, and for some reason supporting European customers made more financial sense than the American ones (because we all know insurance is all about making profits).

[princec]

(See also: healthcare in the US)

Cas