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[Demoni]

If it says balancing?

The Energica charging screen will show an additional message once balancing starts "In order to Optimize battery performance It's suggested to not disconnect the cable until charge is completed". This normally happens around 98% indicated SOC once the bike reaches 100% the balance process is finished and the pack is fully charged.

All battery packs will have a differential between the individual cell voltages. During charging once one cell in a pack reaches its max voltage the battery can no longer be charged. Before charging can resume the fully charged cell/s need to be discharged a little bit. Then the charge process starts back up. This cycle continues till the delta between the lowest and highest voltage cells is within a specific tolerance.

[HoodRichOG]

Thanks. Should I charge to 100 every day or set a lower max SOC to increase longevity of the battery pack? Is there a big buffer on top of the range?

[MVetter]

"In order to Optimize battery performance It's suggested to not disconnect the cable until charge is completed".

It's actually a little bit more delightfully Google Translate Italian than that. What the screen reads is, "...it's suggested to do not disconnect the cable..."

[MrMogensen]

Thanks for the explanations.
I just thought this was about looking at the range at a certain SOC (for example 100) and determining that the pack could need a calibration. My Model 3 just slowly looses max range over a long period of SOC always between 40-80%. If I then drain the battery nearly empty and charge it to max several times the max range increases (BMS calibration). I thought it was the same with any EV but obviously some (Energica) is more clear or clever about it.

[HoodRichOG]

I also had a hard time finding a suitable charger last night. The first one was at an AM/PM gas station and only charged at 8 kW, so I abandoned the charge and went to the next closest, which was an Electrify America charger that I couldn’t get to start charging. It wanted me to plug in first but the bike had already rejected the handshake by the time I could initialize payment, no matter how fast I swiped the card. I had to give up and find an EVGo charger that worked like a charm with a credit card swipe, and topped me up to 80% in only 12 minutes. The attempts to figure out what was wrong and get charging took about an hour, though, so I’m hoping I can learn the quirks of DC fast charging and get through the teething period quickly. I also didn’t care for the limp mode that the bike automatically went into when I had 9 mi of estimated range and 17% SOC. It started limiting me to 59 MPH on the highway, which I did not appreciate and felt was dangerous. I hope there’s a way to override that, as I would prefer to make my own decisions about how far to push my luck with range and speed.

For Electrify America, that is not the way to charge an Energica. I had the same issue with my bike. It's very counterintuitive. You have to ignore what the screen tells you and this is the procedure:

- Download, install, register on the EA app
- Get to charger and find in the app
- Swipe right to start charger
- When the app says "initializing" and you see stuff changing on the screen of the actual charger, take the cable and hook it up to your Energica
- The charge will now work

[flynnstig82r]

For Electrify America, that is not the way to charge an Energica. I had the same issue with my bike. It's very counterintuitive. You have to ignore what the screen tells you and this is the procedure:

- Download, install, register on the EA app
- Get to charger and find in the app
- Swipe right to start charger
- When the app says "initializing" and you see stuff changing on the screen of the actual charger, take the cable and hook it up to your Energica
- The charge will now work

I finally figured that out and got the same charger to work a few days ago. I now actually prefer EA because they seem to be the least wonky once you get past the "plug in first" part and they always have multiple chargers at each location, so if one goes out you're not stuck. I'm considering paying the $4 / month to get a $0.12 / kWh discount since I have been fast charging a lot.

[flynnstig82r]

A few weeks in and I adore the bike just as much as when it was new. I've doubled the odometer from 600 to 1,200 with a few trips around the Bay Area and Sacramento region. I've moved over a couple of accessories from the Zero like the CRG bar-end mirrors and RAM Mounts wireless Qi charger. I bought and installed the heated grips and soft luggage side rails to modify at Sonic Moto next month. Right now they're already useful for preventing things that I strap to the pillion seat from touching the wheel and wearing away the straps when I'm a dummy who doesn't strap things properly.

I moved a couple of dials on the suspension, but it's still way too harsh for the bumpy Sacramento-area highways, so I need to spend some time with it today. I also intend to tape off the cooling vents to the battery during the winter, which I suspect is contributing to my insanely-low efficiency of 200+ kWh / mi. I'll also get in the habit of charging to 100% before I start the ride to warm up the battery in the mid-40's weather we've been having lately. I was expecting 55-60 mi highway range between charges, but I've been getting about 35 in this weather, so that will definitely need to be sorted out.

Speaking of cold weather, I'm seriously considering a heated jacket and pants liners, maybe even glove liners. I'll tap the headlight wires to get the ~12 amps @ 12 vdc that I'll need for those. I didn't budget for these, but it's such a quality-of-life issue right now that I might be willing to put them on a credit card and pay it off when the Zero sells.

I'm also going to install the Stomppad tank protector so I can strap the Velomacchi backpack to the tank instead of the pillion seat and then I won't have to take off the straps every time I need to charge. Without the protector, the metal clasps on the backpack would scratch the tank plastic. Then later I'll consider moving the auxilliary lights over from the Zero, as well as the smaller turn signal bulbs and then I'll re-install the stock mirrors and put that bike up for sale.

Next week I'll receive the Puig up-and-down windscreen that supposedly bolts right on and will hopefully help with riding efficiency at speed, and also some 2" Rox risers and Woodcraft spool sliders.

Future projects I'm considering are the Gilles frame sliders that Electricmotorcycles.nl sells, Sato Racing front axle sliders (but I haven't found out which model to buy yet), going up a tooth on the rear sprocket to correct the optimistic speedometer, and then installing either an auto-drip chain lube or biting the bullet and getting one of those fancy low-maintenance Regina HPE chains.

Now that I've gotten used to the handling of the SS9, I'm a much more confident rider than I ever was on the Zero. The handling is so much more stable and confident that I know it's going to go right where I want it to, and I'm not afraid to lean it farther than the Zero. With traction control, I don't worry about having to apply throttle at lean, and if I need to stop quickly the dual-discs and strong regen makes me feel like I can stop on a dime. Much improved over the Zero SR's single-disc front that felt like a suggestion box submission to please slow down at some point. I was already a much more confident rider on the Zero than any of the gas bikes I had ridden in the past, and now the SS9 takes it to the next level, to the point where I have to reign myself in so I don't ride overly aggressively. That's not an instinct I've ever had before, and it feels really good.

I've felt a slight envy for the new bikes with the EMCE motor and 120 mi highway range, as well as the increased power and torque on the Eva Ribelle compared to the SS9 range. I still get a thrill from cracking open the SS9's throttle, and of course no one actually needs that much power, but now that I've gotten used to it, it's left me wanting even more. I'd really like to see a proper upright sports-tourer like the Multistrada with wind protection, luggage, crash protection, semi-active suspension, adaptive cruise control, 120+ mi range at 70 MPH, and 3-4C recharge rates. I think it will be feasible in 2-3 years, and I would pay a premium for it since I don't like cars and it would be my only vehicle.

[flynnstig82r]

The hard luggage rail install went well, and the added convenience of a big top case and side cases is amazing! The side cases do impose an aerodynamic penalty, but they’re just too useful to consider leaving them off. Riding efficiency seems to be about 150-160 Wh / mi at 70 MPH without the side cases and 170-180 with them, and got up to 200-220 when I had a strong headwind in the Central Valley north of Bakersfield. That’s a lot better than when I first got the bike but I’m still eager to improve the aero by another 15-20%. Right now I would happily take a trip up to 200 mi, but last Sunday’s ~400 mi ride from Long Beach to Davis (Sacramento area) was pretty miserable and took 13 hours. Once efficiency gets to ~200 Wh / mi or worse in a headwind, it’s a double-whammy. Not only did I need to stop and charge every 35 mi, but charging took twice as long because the battery stayed hot during the ride when working so hard. I didn’t budget for that to happen, either time-wise or mentally, and I got back to Davis at 2:30 in the morning when I expected to get home by midnight. Right now, if I had to do another Long Beach trip, I would either swap for a gas bike or get a moto tent and camp for the night. I don’t know how some of you guys do 600+ mile days, but I’m definitely not cut out for long days in the saddle with the current state of e-motorcycles.

I am taking a workshop on 3D printing and designing in a couple of weeks, and I am hoping to be able to print a NACA teardrop shape that I can bolt onto the side cases and make them more slippery. I’ll be happy if I can consistently get 150 Wh / mi or better and 180 with a headwind. That would give me 40-50 mi between stops and keep my charge rate at or near the full 75A / 22-24 kW, which is important for my sanity on long trips. Right now I have to charge to 95 or 100% if there’s a 50 mile gap between stations, which takes a lot longer and is not good for the battery. A 21.5 kWh pack would help, of course, but these have greater thermal issues due to the lack of cooling channels so it seems like I would just be trading one set of problems for another. I’m sure the EMCE motor’s improved efficiency helps to keep the new packs from overheating as much, but I’d still like to see a liquid cooling solution for the battery in future bikes.

With the 13.4 model, I appreciate that I can charge 20 or 30-80% in ~15 mins, which is fast enough that I don’t feel the need to leave the bike, so the charging stop doesn’t feel like a big deal even if I have to stop more often. A 35-45 min stop would feel a lot more arduous, even if I could go a lot farther between stops. Don’t get me wrong, I’d take the increased capacity of the 21.5 kWh pack if it were in my budget, but there’s a silver lining to being forced to stop more often with shorter charge times.

Overall, I’m still loving the bike and wouldn’t want to own anything else (other than a newer SS9).

[coolhand]

If you manage to find a decent aftermarket windshield for the essesse, let me know hre in the thread - I have ordered one (a bike), but the stock screen is a joke..... so I plan to get an aftermarket screen instead.

[coolhand]

The pictures, is that with the "Puig up-and-down windscreen" ? If so, do you have a link to it somewhere ?

[flynnstig82r]

The pictures, is that with the "Puig up-and-down windscreen" ? If so, do you have a link to it somewhere ?

Yes that’s the one. It made a huge difference at highway speeds, both to efficiency and comfort. Here’s the link (hopefully the link still works): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0711Q7PX8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[togo]

> ... 220 when I had a strong headwind in the Central Valley north of Bakersfield...

Hey, California boy, you doing the SF-SD ride this Saturday?

> I am taking a workshop on 3D printing and designing in a couple of weeks, and I am hoping to be able to print a NACA teardrop shape that I can bolt onto the side cases and make them more slippery. I’ll be happy if I can consistently get 150 Wh / mi or better and 180 with a headwind. That would give me 40-50 mi between stops and keep my charge rate at or near the full 75A / 22-24 kW, which is important for my sanity on long trips....

Very interested in this project, I'd love to see what you got and maybe do some tests.  I have an EsseEsse9+ in San Francisco.

[flynnstig82r]

> ... 220 when I had a strong headwind in the Central Valley north of Bakersfield...

Hey, California boy, you doing the SF-SD ride this Saturday?

I'll be too busy, unfortunately, but I look forward to hearing the tales!

> I am taking a workshop on 3D printing and designing in a couple of weeks, and I am hoping to be able to print a NACA teardrop shape that I can bolt onto the side cases and make them more slippery. I’ll be happy if I can consistently get 150 Wh / mi or better and 180 with a headwind. That would give me 40-50 mi between stops and keep my charge rate at or near the full 75A / 22-24 kW, which is important for my sanity on long trips....

Very interested in this project, I'd love to see what you got and maybe do some tests.  I have an EsseEsse9+ in San Francisco.

I'll let you know when I've got something useable. I learned how to stretch a sphere into a teardrop shape in Blender, although it doesn't have the same dimensions as the NACA shape, it should at least be slipperier than the brick-shaped sidecases. Right now I'm thinking the best solution would be to separate the shape into halves for each side and put a tab on them to bolt onto the cases, hopefully in a way that it could be removed and attached quickly. Once I'm farther along, I'll reach out to some people in the EM community who know a lot more about aero and prototyping than me and get some pointers before I have it printed.

I think that anything that prevents the wind from hitting the rectangular sides of the current cases will make a big difference. A couple of weeks ago I had a passenger and noticed significantly better efficiency on our brief highway portion of the ride despite the added weight. I think it was just that her legs were causing the wind to curve around the cases instead of hitting them square. Unscientific, but it was a big difference in efficiency from what I usually get with side cases mounted on that stretch of highway (160-170 Wh/mi vs 200 normally).

[flynnstig82r]

So it turns out that getting large 3D-printed pieces made and shipped is not as cost-effective as I had assumed, especially if I have to do it multiple times and make adjustments. Since I don't have prototyping and fabbing skills, I think I need to look at trading the Givi Trekker 33's for cases that are more aerodynamic from the factory. I've heard the WL900 semi-rigid 25L cases are close to aerodynamically neutral, so I'm considering those. I'll miss the extra 8L capacity, especially with my bulky airbag jacket that might not fit in 25L, but I can't tolerate the piss-poor efficiencies I've experienced with the Trekkers mounted. Earlier this week I rode from the Sacramento area to San Jose and back without the side bags and my efficiency was fantastic, around 130-150 Wh/mi at 65-70 MPH on the slab, but I sorely missed the extra storage.

[DonTom]

If it says balancing?

Sorry if I am dumb about this...

Isn't this just using a regular charger? Will it be reading "balancing" in the display of the Energica?

It says at around 85% SOC (regardless of what you're charging with) something like "cell balancing, do not disconnect until completed".


But in reality, it isn't that important in most cases, so disconnect any time you want. But once in a while, charge to 100% for the cell balancing. I normally try to save my 100% charging for home charging unless I need the extra ~15 SOC range while on the road to make it to the next charge station.


On a fast CCS charge, the charge rate slows down a lot near the end. In many cases, you're being charged by the minute instead of only the charge rate (I think CA made that illegal recently). So it's not wise to wait to a full 100% SOC charge on a fast DC charger when it is well below a 10 KW rate of charging. I normally disconnect around there at 10KW, regardless what the screen tells me to do, unless it is home charging or if I need all the range I can get. I have the SS9"-" purchased just a short while before the "+" models were announced.


-Don-  Reno, NV