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[Richard230]

In case you hadn't noticed yet, under General Discussion, there is a subject titled "Cannonball Run".  Terry (offthegrid) is has taken off on a cross country trip, from Florida to California, on his Zero S.  This could be a real adventure and he will be paving the way for all future EV long distance travelers.  Here is his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/lifeoffthegrid

[Nukie]

Wow. Impressive. I will be following along for sure.

[benswing]

I've been following him for a while, and he's doing some interesting things!  It's particularly impressive seeing him do this trip on a 2012 vehicle.  This type of thing should become easier with 1hr charge times on a 2013 Zero S.

[Richard230]

What really impresses me is how Terry managed to get that little Zero S to carry all of the luggage that he is hauling around.  I have a tough time just getting 1/3 of that much luggage on my bike and then it leaves little room for me to sit on the bike. He has got to have a big rear luggage rack somewhere under all of that stuff. The 2013 bike, with its larger chassis, would make life a lot easier for the rider when packing a lot of luggage or a passenger.

[skeezmour]

I've been following him for a while, and he's doing some interesting things!  It's particularly impressive seeing him do this trip on a 2012 vehicle.  This type of thing should become easier with 1hr charge times on a 2013 Zero S.

Yes when level 3 station are every 50-80 miles across the country it will be AWESOME! I-5 from Canada all the way down to Mexico will be like that soon. More will come.

[Electric Terry]

Thanks Richard! The reason I can carry 400 pounds of extra chargers, tools, batteries, camping gear, cold weather gear, drinks, hundreds of feet of extension cords and adapters etc. on the trip is because I did design and weld a new bolt-in subframe.  

I often take 2 passengers on the bike and used to do it with one sitting in front of me, but that was a little unsafe, so I built a new subframe with 2 sets of rear footpegs.  The subframe is a truss type design that channels weight to the lower rear of the frame just above the swingarm pivot point.

Here's a picture that you can see all 3 sets of footpegs.




Should hit Texas later today if all goes well.  Wish me luck!

And for anyone who isn't doing it yet, please follow my trip by clicking "like" on the facebook page below.  And please I encourage you to find any pics you like the most and share them yourselves and tell your friends a little about why you like electric motorcycles.  I'm doing this trip for 2 reasons.  

1) - because I love riding motorcycles, and especially like riding electric motorcyces, and especially when they have the size 6 controller!!

And 2) because I'm trying to gain awareness to electric vehicles.  And although long distance trips are not what electric vehicles are designed for, attempting something like this is teaching me a lot, and others that typically wouldn't want to even consider giving up their gas car, are sending me messages asking me how much and where they can buy an electric motorcycle like mine.  Almost everyone I talk to thinks the XU would be a good entry bike for them at a reasonable price and a few older seasoned riders are eyeing the 2013 S or DS 11.4.   Get the conversation going with your facebook friends!  Then direct them here to join the discussion!  Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/lifeoffthegrid

[Richard230]

You are really doing a terrific job showing how electric motorcycles are more than just some expensive "green" toy, Terry.  What you really need to do now is to alert the media and get some articles and interviews about your trip.  Keep in mind that you are making history and are the first person to ride an electric motorcycle across the country.  This makes you news and is something that the local and national media (especially the TV talking heads) should really like to present to the public - in between grinding the "fiscal cliff" to death.   

[protomech]

Where are you finding places to charge? Are you primarily charging at J1772 stations or are you finding 120V outlets to charge at? How far do you typically go between charges? How large is the LiFePO4 pack, is it tied into the main battery pack so that it discharges / charges together?

[Electric Terry]

You have some great ideas Richard, that would be great to do!  I just don't have time to try to contact them now.  I am hoping to be in Los Angeles by Friday, and have about 2000 miles left to go.  It's going to be very close if I make it, and it's looking like I will fall short by about 400 miles unless I do 1 or 2 more all nighters, which in the final stretch I will do if it means I make it.  But right now I am charging at a McDonalds in Lake Charles Louisiana and using the WiFi.

Michael, I use J1772 stations mostly from ChargePoint.  I have used one Blink Station, about 8 Nissan Dealerships, and also used the 50 Amp connector at RV Campgrounds along the highway to bridge the gap between car charging stations and can run 4 chargers at once off 1 50 Amp connection.   I have 5 chargers with me (3 Delta Q 1kw chargers, and 2 Elcon PFC 2.5kw chargers)  Right now I am using all 5 to charge at almost 7.5kw or just under 1C charge rate, so it will take me about an hour.

When there's none of those I charge at a gas station where the outside ice machine plugs in, but it's painfully slow.

[NoiseBoy]

Loving following your trip Terry, well done not just for doing it but documenting it real time aswell.

1C is twice the maximum charge rating that Zero specify, have you had to bypass the BMS to do it or are you cooling the pack or anything?

Imagine how much easier all this would be with fast DC charging stations, it has to be the future.

[protomech]

0.5C is the recommended charge rate EIG specifies for their C020 cells.

Both a 2x quick charger setup on a ZF3 bike and a 4x quick charger setup on a ZF6 bike will charge at approximately 0.7C (4 kW / 5.3 kWh), which exceed the recommended charge rate for the EIG cells.

EIG tested the C020 cells in laboratory conditions for 1000 cycles at 1C discharge, 1C charge with minimal capacity loss. There's only one sure way to find out what the cells do in the real world... and offthegrid is doing it.

[JohnSki]

Found an article about Terry's travel. www.torquenews.com/1075/how-did-terry-hershner-travel-3500-miles-electric-motorcycle-6-days

Here is another blog post that shows some charging pictures and Zero's press release. visforvoltage.org/forum/13344-terry-hershners-cross-country-3500-mile-trip-2012-zero-s-zf9-electric-motorcycle

[Richard230]

Thanks for finding that article, JohnSki.  That really helps explain how Terry was able to travel so many miles every day while riding his Zero S.  So the power is out there.  All the infrastructure now needs to do is to make it more available to the average Joe who just wants to plug in and go.  What the world really needs is a standardized charging system that every vehicle can use - and lots of them.  Oh yes, don't lock them up at night.   

[protomech]

Yeah. I don't freaking care whether we settle on J1772 80A AC charging, J1773 / SAE DC charging, or CHAdeMO .. or upcoming wireless standards.

Just settle on one.

Then roll it out.