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[Richard230]

Here is rideapart.com's take on the 2014 Zero SR.  Mostly positive but they complain about overheating, crappy suspension and weak brakes.  I have had none of those issues.  No overheating (but then it doesn't get all that hot here), the suspension could be better, but I have had IC motorcycles with much worse suspension units and the front brake is as good as most Japanese bikes with Nissan calipers.  Of course, the rear brake does suck, but that seems to be a tradition with Zero, perhaps because they are concerned that the rear tire might skid on wet roads if the brake was used hard while the regen was fully engaged.   

http://rideapart.com/2014/06/review-2014-zero-sr/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HellForLeather+%28Hell+For+Leather%29

[protomech]

Seems like a review by spec sheet. It'd be nice to read a little about performance when reviewing a performance model.

I'm curious about the overheating in 85 degree temps under "moderate loads".

[Richard230]

I was also curious about the battery overheating statement.  I thought it was the motor that got too hot and then the system throttled back? 

[protomech]

I believe there's only one overheat indicator on the bike, though you can display motor / battery / controller temperatures on the dash. It's possible that he saw the overheat indicator and assumed it was the battery.

It's possible with high ambient and sitting in the sun that the batteries might overheat before the motor, but I would assume that would take much more than 85F. I assume the motor will go into thermal protection somewhere around 180-200F, and the batteries likely will do the same around 150-160F.

At low speed operation with strong acceleration, especially with many standing-start accelerations, the motor will generate a lot of heat and the batteries won't generate very much heat. I assume this is probably how he was using the bike.

At high speed operation, both motor and batteries will generate higher heat .. but the racers in 2013 eRoadRacing were only concerned with motor cooling, not battery cooling.

So I think it's reasonable that it was the motor that shut down the party first.

[ReeveSteves]

I've seen 200F on my SR without even a warning indicator, so the limit must be higher than that. The SR also has higher temperature magnets than the regular S/DS. Perhaps this is the same phenomenon as when auto journalists get much worse mileage than everyone else: they abuse things, then assume abuse is normal.

[dkw12002]

I've experienced what I think was overheating conditions with the battery in my 2013 S, so I can imagine with more load there is going to be even more heat in the SR. It would show up when I got finished riding in hot weather at highway speed and tried to charge. I had to put a fan on the battery for up to an hour in some shade to get the temp down to where it could be charged. I just avoid hot sun and high temps now. Essentially I treat the Zero just like an air-cooled bike, by riding it only short distances in hot, sunny weather. Unfortunately, for the next 3 months here in Texas, most of the daytime will be over 85F and sunny.

[protomech]

Charging temperatures are somewhat more restrictive than discharge temperatures; Farasis claims 0-45C charge, -20 to 60C discharge.

[BSDThw]

Zero BMS at my 2013 FX is set:

  - Max Discharge Temp        :  60 C
  - Min Power Reduction Temp  :  55 C
  - Min Discharge Temp        :  -30 C
  - Max Charge Temp           :  50 C
  - Min Charge Temp           :  0 C
  - Max Charge C-Rate         :  1.0
  - Min Discharge C-Rate      : 10.0

But my bike will not charge if lower than 3°C therefore I guess we have to keep in mind the accuracy of the temp-sensor

[Doug S]

I've been riding (mostly commuting) on my SR since the end of January, and only one time did I get a red "hot" light. It was a hot (105F) San Diego day and I was fooling around on the freeway, accelerating hard from 65ish to 85ish repeatedly -- because I can! I glanced down and saw the red light blinking. The gauge (I like to leave it on motor temp) was reading somewhere around 212F, and although I hadn't gotten to the point where it was cutting power, I started acting my age and it slowly started shedding heat, while still doing 70 mph on the freeway.

I've wondered since the day I got the bike though....I'll go out in the morning, many hours since I last rode it, and the motor temp readout will show me a good 20F higher than ambient. Say it's 60F outdoors (I love San Diego!), was well below that for hours overnight, and the motor will read at 85F before I've ever sent any power to it. It really seems like it reads at least 20F higher than true, at least at room temperatures. I'm wondering if my "overheating" event was really a premature warning.

Has anybody else noticed this? Does anybody know if there's an adjustment that the dealer can make to calibrate the temp sensor better?

[ultrarnr]

I just checked and my motor temperature is definitely high. Have not been on my SR all day, my garage temp is 78 degrees. The motor temp shows 95 degrees!  Controller temp was 80 degrees, battery temp was 87.

I have never had power cut back due to high temps. Have ridden at 80 MPH for 37 miles a few times and while the temp light went solid at about 34 miles I had no problems maintaining speed.