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[mdjak1]

Was thinking how Zero might be a good vehicle to load up in a van (or rear entry handicap minivan) and travel the country with.  Stop in a city or national park, unload the bike and tour around locally.   But what would the best way be to charge the bike when traveling on the road?   Would a 12V to 110V inverter be capable of charging?   Or is there some other way to charge directly with 12VDC from the vehicle's electrical system?

[Crissa]

It would take a 2000+ watt 240v sine wave inverter.  It needs to be optimal at 1700 watts, which varies by model.  You'd also want to know if the alternator can take the strain... Charging is a protracted affair.  A generator might be better.

A Zero uses 100+ DC volts to charge, and the charger prefers 240 to 120 volts AC.

It's technically possible to trickle-charge the Zero battery, but that would require a special-built charger and power supply.

Many new trucks - hybrids, mostly - have this power on-board.  The new EVs will, too, like the Cybertruck.

-Crissa

[DonTom]

Was thinking how Zero might be a good vehicle to load up in a van (or rear entry handicap minivan) and travel the country with.  Stop in a city or national park, unload the bike and tour around locally.   But what would the best way be to charge the bike when traveling on the road?   Would a 12V to 110V inverter be capable of charging?   Or is there some other way to charge directly with 12VDC from the vehicle's electrical system?

Depens on where you are and where you're going and how much time you will be on the road. And how fast you can charge.

In my RV I can charge by running my generator and charge my Zero DS at 3.3KW. That is about all my 4KW  generator can do (3500 watts continuous).

But there are other choices if you have the time to stop where there is a place to charge. Even many parks have a place to charge these days. In have charged my Zero DS in Death Valley, CA and in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ and several other parks. Be sure to check Plugshare for charge locations. If you find any not listed, you can join Plugshare and add them yourself. I did that for Silver Springs, NV and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Important locations, far from other places to charge.

-Don-  Reno, NV

[T.S. Zarathustra]

Was thinking how Zero might be a good vehicle to load up in a van (or rear entry handicap minivan) and travel the country with.  Stop in a city or national park, unload the bike and tour around locally.   But what would the best way be to charge the bike when traveling on the road?   Would a 12V to 110V inverter be capable of charging?   Or is there some other way to charge directly with 12VDC from the vehicle's electrical system?

Depending on which Zero you have in mind a 12V to 110V inverter could be capable of charging it. It would have to be powerful inverter though, and you'd run the risk of emptying the van batteries, even with the engine running. Alternators only have limited output and if the engine is at idle that output is considerably under the limit. If you're only topping up the Zero batteries as you drive the van you should be good. The last 20-30% of charge is at reduced wattage. You cannot charge Zero directly from 12 VDC with stock charging system. Custom solution like 24V extra alternator on the engine, connected to couple of large deep-cycle lead acid batteries and 24V to 110V inverter might be good solution.

[mdjak1]

I guess this question also depends on which Zero is being charged.  I currently have an FXS.   That is only drawing 700 or so watts.   I came across this video yesterday where someone is using a 1500 watt inverter for charging an FX.   Maybe with a heavier cable to the vehicle's battery it would work a bit better.   And also if the alternator was heavy duty.



Of course with an S or DS, it might notwork so well since the onboard charger draws twice the power.   Perhaps the best solution for one of these is add the charge tank and charge from a J1772 while parked overnight or for meals.

Taking a small generator along would really defeat the purpose.

[Starpower]

You would have to run the RV motor while charging and have at least a 150A alternator (That's BIG!) In addition you RV/Van will use far more gas then a 2000W genny. I have charged mine on my 2000W Honda  and found that the gas consumed to fully charge a dead 12.5 kW battery equates to 60 mpg. Not bad!

[Doctorbass]

the cjheapest way:

Buy one of these cheap DC-DC converter from Alibaba that can transform from 10 to 60V at the input and convert it to up to 130VDC and can be adjusted CC-CV. These cost 20$ per 800W but on your 12V you will get about 150W output as the input is limited to 15A so 15A x 12V = 180W input and about 150w output. but 20$ per 150W is still interesting

https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005001618495108.html?src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=708-803-3821&isdl=y&slnk&plac&mtctp&albbt=Google_7_shopping&aff_platform=google&aff_short_key=UneMJZVf&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=7989987352&albag=90862527748&trgt=743612850874&crea=en1005001618495108&netw=u&device=c&albpg=743612850874&albpd=en1005001618495108&gclid=Cj0KCQjwl9GCBhDvARIsAFunhsk3mNItcQ4burUQYZtMsRbBJqu3lP4vmLkTYTvfSG11NdrH8woooogaApVfEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&fbclid=IwAR3MR3NFP7t-tpVWjghsI_FGL-tG3R4EiTDPCSLfuRCJATC2Y3H1Rz_pUw0

Doc

[mdjak1]

Unfortunately I'm not electrical/electronics engineer, so brewing up a solution using various components isn't something that I would feel comfortable doing.   Additionally, if I understand you right, it would only be feeding 150 watts into the battery, so about 1/4th the power of the onboard charger.   

I think what we would end up doing is switching from an FXS to an S or DS with a charge tank. Then we could grab some level 2 charging during stops.   This whole plan to go on the road with an electric bike in the back of a van would be a couple of years out anyway.  Maybe by then other bikes with level 2 charging would be available too.  But we would want to stick with something in the 300 lb range, rather than some 400-500+ lb long range monster. 

the cjheapest way:

Buy one of these cheap DC-DC converter from Alibaba that can transform from 10 to 60V at the input and convert it to up to 130VDC and can be adjusted CC-CV. These cost 20$ per 800W but on your 12V you will get about 150W output as the input is limited to 15A so 15A x 12V = 180W input and about 150w output. but 20$ per 150W is still interesting

https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005001618495108.html?src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=708-803-3821&isdl=y&slnk&plac&mtctp&albbt=Google_7_shopping&aff_platform=google&aff_short_key=UneMJZVf&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=7989987352&albag=90862527748&trgt=743612850874&crea=en1005001618495108&netw=u&device=c&albpg=743612850874&albpd=en1005001618495108&gclid=Cj0KCQjwl9GCBhDvARIsAFunhsk3mNItcQ4burUQYZtMsRbBJqu3lP4vmLkTYTvfSG11NdrH8woooogaApVfEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&fbclid=IwAR3MR3NFP7t-tpVWjghsI_FGL-tG3R4EiTDPCSLfuRCJATC2Y3H1Rz_pUw0

Doc

[Crissa]

Charge Tank opens up other solutions, too, like getting good charge rates from RV power supplies or dryer outlets.

-Crissa