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[BigPoppa]

After reading through my owner's manual again this past Sunday, I noticed a couple of recommendations for maintaining battery health. These are periodically draining the battery to 0% as well as occasionally charging to 100% so the cells will balance.

In my attempt to run my battery down to 0% I took my all freeway route yesterday and tried to ride as fast as I could get away with when I wasn't splitting lanes. In open traffic I was averaging 80mph+ and noticed that my consumption remained the same as when I average 70mph on the same route. That is about 70% battery usage to go 38 miles. In fact, for the ride home, I only used up 65% of the battery's charge and "had" to go for another 15 miles or so to get the battery to drain to 0%.

My unscientific measurement seems to indicate that I'm getting the same freeway range whether I go 65mph or 80mph but the amount of time spent splitting lanes (as well as summer temps) may have impacted my range yesterday.

So my question from the subject...is it possible for EV range to improve over time?

On another note, after intentionally running it hard yesterday, I found that 30 minutes in 100+ degree temps is what it takes for the battery temp to go yellow. Also, at 1% my bike no longer showed a range estimate, instead it showed dashes. At 0% the bike went into Limp Home Mode and I was still able to go the 2 miles or so I needed to make it home. It also didn't restrict me to 25mph, I was able to cruise around 35mph-40mph. Power delivery was drastically cut though so no splitting to the front at a stoplight when you're in Limp Home Mode.

[Doug S]

It's definitely possible for batteries to "break in" to their maximum capacity in their first few cycles, but I don't think the effect is all that great. For the first couple of years I owned my 2014 Zero SR, I kept very close records of the SoC when I got home at the end of the day, and at first it did seem like my capacity was rising somewhat. But several months later, it became clear that it was more season-related than due to any actual increase in capacity. It was clear I was doing better in the warm months, less well in the colder months, just as you'd expect.

In addition to the battery performing better when it's warmer, the warm summer air is less dense than cold winter air, which I think has at least as much effect by reducing drag. Ask any pilot about "density altitude" and you'll get a real appreciation for air density changes with temperature.

[BigPoppa]

Thanks for the feedback. I kind of suspected the performance difference is due more to environment than the bike itself but I wasn't sure.