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[T.S. Zarathustra]

I saw somewhere someone saying that he had replaced the major electronic parts in his Zero with off-the-shelf electronics. BMS, Motor controller, etc. To unlock various options and get control over what you can do with your bike without having to involve a dealer.
Unfortunately, memory is vague and if I saved a link to where that was mentioned I cannot find it now. Google has obstreperously refused to guide me in the right direction, but helpfully shows me stuff it thinks I might be interested in purchasing. In the Zero-manual I found few rabbit holes but nothing about off-the-shelf replacements. Before coming to the conclusion that this bit of memory comes from a dream I thought "Why not ask if someone recognizes this here?"
My concern is not about upgrading. It's about maintaining a (value dropping by the day) 2018 Zero motorcycle. Without having to pay a dealer more than the bike is worth for changing few parameters in software. And having option of cheaper or more readily available parts.
So if anyone has installed off-the-shelf BMS, Motor controller, mainboard, etc. and has posted some how-to(s), could you please share location of such information.

[T.S. Zarathustra]

There are folks who build their own electric bikes.

I wonder if this may be the solution moving forward.  Swap out proprietary Energica electronics for aftermarket battery management systems and speed controllers, etc.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/electricmotorcyclebuilds

https://www.sparkcycleworks.com/

This advice for Energica owners might work for Zero(es) too. See thread here. https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=13434.0;topicseen

It's not the simplest thing, but it's not rocket science. Most component units work independently to perform their own function. Like ESC, ABS, BMS. All you need to do is tell them what to do. Most have built-in communication circuits and protocols. If you can replace them one by one as needed, and get them to communicate with the rest, you have success.
For example. The motor in Zero only needs correct electric pulses to drive the bike. A speed control (ESC) that is designed to work with same type of motor will to that and only require simple input to control the speed. There is no need to design a whole motor or speed control. BMS will monitor and balance the battery on its own and simply report the status. ABS will do the same for brakes.
The main board is where it gets tricky. It needs to communicate with; ESC, BMS, charger, ABS, dash, and maybe some more. It's also locked by Zero. If you can get an off the shelf main board, where you can set the communications to your liking, would open everything up.

[Specter]

The only problem is, a lot of the parts are married to each other.  This controller will ONLY work with that battery, this motor, that inverter etc.  This is programmed into the things when they are put in, or swapped out.  The software is proprietary and encrypted.  Sadly no, you can NOT just swap parts out and it works, you have to reconfigure / redefine.  Just like adding a new piece in your laptop or home computer it has to 'see' it and recognize that unique piece, reconfigure for THAT ONE device, even if it's a like component direct replacement, and go from there.

I suppose you could re do all that but would probably have to throw your own code onto it too as you'd not be able to get into the existing.  Is it worth it at that point?

aaron

[T.S. Zarathustra]

That's a good question. At what point is it not worth trying to fix things anymore?

To the best of my knowledge communications between bike components are not encrypted. Encryption cannot be implemented without adding complexity, cost and delay in signaling. What would they gain by encrypting communications from one part to another? (Encryption is a can of worms. Do you use hardware or software encryption? What level of encryption would do you use?)

I was hoping someone had already done this and would share, so I wouldn't have to spend long time finding and configuring parts.   

As you say, the controller (Main Bike Board (MBB)) will ONLY work with this and that. So that is the first thing to replace. First problem solved. With the original design for my SDS (gen2) bike being ~15 years old, and keeping The Murphy Law in mind, any newly designed replacement would be smaller, more powerful and cheaper. Ideally it would arrive with basic software that could be adjusted to intended use. There are boards designed for make-your-own-EV that could maybe be used.

 

[T.S. Zarathustra]

Found this kit in an online electric boating conversion store. Looks familiar.