Numbers, some like them, some hate them. But our lives are full of them. And when we talk about motorcycles, we typically discuss horse power, torque, engine displacement, acceleration, weight … So let’s talk about a motorcycle and start out with a number: 360
This is the number of days it took me to ride 10,000 miles on my 2016 Zero DSR. In this post I’d like to share my experience commuting almost daily for one year on an electric motorcycle and answer the following questions: Are electric motorcycles a viable alternative to the proven combustion engine powered bikes we’ve been enjoying for over a century? In particular, is the Zero DSR a reliable commuter bike, where does she shine and what are areas in need of improvement?
Let’s go back to the beginning, when it all started back in mid July of 2016. For the 6 ½ years prior I had been commuting 60 miles on an almost daily basis on my trusted 2010 BMW F650GS twin 800cc ride. She never once let me down during the more than 62,000 miles I rode her and proved to be an extremely reliable bike. The solid suspension and ample power yet excellent fuel economy coupled with ABS, heated grips, brush guards, crash bars, skid plate and BMW’s vario cases made her an excellent choice for the lane splitting commute plus the occasional road trip in all kinds of weather. But all good things come to an end and with a heavy heart I said goodbye. In her place I purchased the 2016 Zero DSR, an electric motorcycle. Zero has a non-inventory dealership business model, but the BMW dealership in San Jose that also sells Zero motorcycles had two bikes available for test rides, a 2016 DS and a 2016 SR. Riding them on the highway I concluded that the bikes were solid enough and had sufficient power, agile handling and ample stopping power to commute over the Santa Cruz mountains from outside Zero’s Scotts Valley HQ to Santa Clara. The seating position of the SR didn’t agree with me as well as that of the DS. At the same time, the extra ump of the ‘R’ line felt like a much welcomed safety cushion riding over Hwy 17.
Hold on, slow down and rewind. Why did I consider an electric bike if there are so many combustion engine powered alternatives to BMW’s more street oriented F700GS, the successor to the twin F650GS? As a matter of fact, I work in the solar industry and our home in the Santa Cruz mountains is 100% solar powered (electricity, hot water, radiant floor heat). Each year our 10kW DC photovoltaic system generates an excess of the order of 7,000kWh. Living in PG&E territory with net metering is certainly a plus, but there is no cash compensation worth mentioning for the excess electricity we donate to PG&E, and which they resell to their customers at a very nice profit margin. Plus, Zero is just down the street in Scotts Valley and, while less known compared to Tesla, has been a leader in electric transportation - and the leader when it comes to electric motorcycles. Which gets us back to numbers.
With the 4.2 gallon tank of the F650GS I could comfortably commute 4 days a week and at 240mi she needed a refill of about 4 gallons. Using rough averages the cost of mid grade in San Jose is just a bit over $3.15/gal - i.e. I spent at least $525 in gas each year. There is no gas station on my route and it added about an extra 10-15 minutes to my commute each time to fill her up. So, for the approximately 42 tank stops per year I no longer need with the Zero I save between 7 and 10 ½ hours and time is money. With the Zero I just plug her in a standard 120V/20A outlet each day when I get home and she charges while I have time to do other things.
I also took a look at my service records. As a representative of the gas burning engine motorbike the F650GS needed oil changes, spark plugs, valve adjustments and for the 6,000mi service intervals the average cost at the friendly BMW dealership in San Jose was about $250. Since the Zero also needs break fluid, break pads and tires or eventually a new belt, I assumed there to be no cost difference to the BMW. However, the Zero has a 4,000mi service interval - this is where Zero has to up their game. There isn’t really anything to be done at the service, but it basically ended up costing me $160 each for the 2 service checks thus far. As indicated earlier, the same dealership also represents Zero. So at 12,000mi the BMW ended up at $500 while the Zero comes in at $480 - only a $20 saving. Barely worth mentioning, but Zero’s marketing department seems to have a different take on the matter.
Adding up the gas and maintenance gets the Zero an annual cost advantage of at least $550. Insurance is also slightly lower, but the purchase price is significantly higher than for example that of the BMW F700GS, + $5,000 to be exact. The Zero’s MSRP $15,995 vs. $9,995 for the 2017 BMW F700GS with ABS. A 2017 BMW R1200GS runs $16,695. The numbers thus far equate to a 9 year payback period. For residents of CA this is reduced to about 5 to 5 ½ years leveraging the $900 rebate from the Air Resources Board and the federal income tax credit. To sweeten the deal, Zero offered a $1,000 VISA gift card during their 10th anniversary which covered all the accessories I added - parts only, I installed them myself.
Enough of the numbers, so how did the Zero DSR fare thus far?
First impressions are that Zero still has a lot to learn about the little details that make a great motorcycle and separate a basic concept from a refined product. As an example, in order to get under the seat it takes tools. And speaking of tools, none come with the bike. No nice little tool package. The old 2000 KTM Adventure 690 came with a solid tool set, and the 2010 and 2011 BMW F GS’ both came with basic tools. But no tools with the Zero. Another detail is the break line clutter right in front of the instrument cluster and key hole hiding the status indicators on the dash. Two zip ties took care of this for the most part, but getting the key in and out is still complicated by obstruction in the path. And the key top is rather small, try to grab it with winter gloves, next to impossible. Even with the summer leather gloves it is far from a smooth operation. More annoying when riding is the limited adjustability and overall arm geometry of the rearview mirrors. At 5’10†with a slender runners build and weight all I see are my upper arms and shoulders, not so on the BMW.
Another area where Zero has a long way to go is accessories. With the still low sales numbers it isn’t surprising that the usual suspects like Touratech, AltRider etc. aren’t yet offering crash bars, brush guards, windscreens and so on. But in the word of motorcycles, a lot of dollars are made with accessories allowing owners to customize their bikes. And it is not just the lack of offerings, but the styling of the available accessories is a far cry from the competition. Everything looks kludged together. And the screws for the brush guards started to rust well before the rainy season last November. The Givi rack didn’t fit and needed a bit of love and care bending it in place, the screws that came with it had heads that would not clear the holes, the brush guards had missing screws to secure the plastic to the aluminum frame. The splash guard for the rear fender is rather ugly, but at least functional. And there are no crash bars. While Zero offers crash bars for the bikes they sell to law enforcement, these are not available to the regular Joe - and they are esthetically not very pleasing anyway. I also installed a set of Twisted Throttle Denali D2 LED auxiliary headlights. With the bike not emitting engine noise this helps when lane splitting, but also for general visibility and the rides in the dark or rain on the windy mountain road from and to our house. But don’t expect Twisted Throttle or Zero to help you with the installation and schematics. It isn’t exactly rocket science and Zero actually makes it somewhat easy by offering one trailer plug with 14.4V. While this fused connector is meant to easily plug in a CLA adapter accessory, it can be used for the LED lights as they don’t draw a lot of power. By the way, how come the DSR has a halogen headlight? Isn’t this the age of LED headlights? For a bike supposed to pave the way into the future, it feels a bit antiquated to stick to halogen headlights.
But Zero is definitely ahead of the game when it comes to connectivity. For bluetooth equipped mobile devices there is an app that allows the rider to access additional information about the bike, battery status etc. as well as define a customized ride mode - a feature I like very much. The only sore point is that the clock cannot be set from the app or simply synchronized to the cell phone network time. I bring this up only because the clock as such is quite unreliable and in about 3 months was already 5 minutes fast, after one year it is more than 20 minutes fast. Dear Zero software engineers, what does it take to synchronize the bike’s clock to the cell network time? Wouldn’t this show attention to detail? Maybe the next firmware or app update enables this feature.
Another limitation are the color choices - or lack thereof. The 2016 DSR followed the Henry Ford strategy of the model T - you can have any color as long as it is black. Apparently Zero got stuck with a lot of unused body panels when they offered more color choices for the 2015 model year. Since black wasn’t my thing, the BMW dealer offered to swap the body panels for the orange of the DS at no charge. They know how to close a sale. Only sour point thus far is the fact that the panels have faded from the shiny reflective orange to a duller, milky orange. The metallic blue of my 2010 BMW on the other hand looked like new after 6 ½ years. The difference in weathering characteristics might be that the BMW panels were painted while the Zero panels are dyed.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Zero is a young company, barely 11 years old, so some of this is to be expected and as an early adaptor I am ok with this. But to justify the price premium Zero will need to do better with their next bike. And in case I may have come across to critical of Zero and the DSR, the bike rides great. After all, isn’t this what matters most. Not numbers and not accessories. The DSR handles exceptionally well, the low center of gravity and low weight are definitely a plus. She holds a turn radius and the suspension is excellent and fully adjustable. Sure, these days bikes in this price range come with electronic suspension controls, but I haven’t missed this feature so far. I tuned the bike to my liking and the twisty sections up and down Hwy 17 in the Santa Cruz mountains are a lot of fun on the DSR. She never feels under-powered, throttle (?) response is instantaneous in sport mode. And I’ve had a few close calls where the breaks showed that they are up to the task and the ABS sure helped safe the day here and there. And of course, the zip from a stop is great fun, but hard on the rear tire. I don’t care what bike your ride or what car you drive, but from zero to 40mph you’ll have to be an exceptional rider/driver to beat the DSR. In terms of tires, the stock Pirelli MT-60 were a good choice, but after 8000mi I swapped them for a set of Pirelli Scorpion Trail II. This improved cornering noticeably and Hwy 17 is even more fun.
So what about the battery? The DSR comes with a 13kWh battery, warranty is 50,000mi or 5 years - guess I’ll reach the milage limit first. My daily commute to work consists of 3 miles on a narrow windy mountain road, 20 miles on Hwy 17 which turns into I880 and 7 miles of surface streets (with 25 traffic lights …), so 60mi total each day. On average the charge indicator shows between 68 and 75% charge remaining when I arrive at work; the spread a function of the traffic condition. By the time I arrive home the battery still holds anywhere from 29-52% charge. The most I ever rode on a single day with an errand into Santa Cruz combined with my commute was 86mi and at the end the battery charge was at 2%. Thus, the useful range at mostly highway speeds is around 90±5mi, to me this is totally acceptable. Charge time is not critical to me as I charge her over night, but with about 40% charge remaining the charging time indicator shows just under 7 hours.
To sum it up, my first year with the DSR has been lots of fun and I hope many more years and miles are to come. Of key interest are the durability of the motor and battery as well as other components. Thus far I have had no issues with the bike and she has proven to be a worthy and reliable commuter bike. I look forward to the continued improvements Zero will make to the DSR as well as their next generation bikes. So if you are ready for the future and your daily commute does not exceed 90 miles, go join the growing number of electric riders.
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Topic: long-term impressions - 10,000mi commute in 360 days with Zero DSR (Read 2038 times)