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[liveforphysics]

Battery temp has a range impact.   The warmer the pack, the happier it will share it's contained energy.


However, body position has a major impact. 

In highway testing, you could easily see a >30% difference in range between tucked properly and sitting upright like a wall.


Your BMS will protect the pack from over-discharge, and it leaves a healthy margin of room at the top and bottom of capacity to protect itself from overly deep-cycling that would effect the cells lifespan. 

Also, you will find if you reach the blinking last bar of the pack, you have about ~5-10miles left of "get-you-home" capacity at a reduced performance level, but it's way better than walking. ;-)  No more abrupt cut-offs.

You're welcome. :-)

[dkw12002]

It helps to be short. I'm 5'7" and just reaching forward to the handle bars puts me in a naturally crouched position, so a sport bike in my hands is faster, more comfortable, more stable, and probably does get better mileage (or range) than when a taller person rides. This is really true at higher speeds.   

[dkw12002]

The 2012 moto has "integrated forced air cooling." I guess that means there's a fan near the motor. You should still be able to hear it if you ride hard then are stopped so there is no road and wind noise.

[liveforphysics]

The fan is mounted internally to the shaft of the motor on the backside. 

[Brammofan]

The fan is mounted internally to the shaft of the motor on the backside. 

Interesting... does that mean it only turns when (and at the same speed as) the motor is turning?

[liveforphysics]

Yep.

[Brammofan]

Cool.  One of the beefs that I (and some other Brammo owners) have is that the motor cooling fan (which kicks on at around 150 degrees and doesn't kick off until it gets down to 140 or so) is very loud.  Additionally, there is a fan (I can't recall if it's the same one that cools the motor, or a different one) that comes on after it's been on the charger for about 10 minutes or so.  Likewise, loud.

Is the only cooling fan on the ZF9 the one on the motor shaft, or is there another one somewhere that cools the charger/batteries (or whatever the Brammo charging fan is cooling)? 

Note: I'm one of those turn-the-key guys who doesn't take his bike apart to see how it works - e.g. not mechanically or electrically adept.  So excuse my ignorance with the inner workings.

[Richard230]

My GPR-S used to have a charger with an integral fan. That thing was loud (and occasionally smelly) when it was working. But the charger on my Zero is completely silent.    The only noise it makes is a small "click" when it gets hooked up to the power.

It is a mystery to me what happens to the energy difference between the input and output of the charger.  Maybe it uses the frame as a heat-sink.   

[liveforphysics]

I also am not a fan of noisy fans disrupting an otherwise almost silent riding experience, so we spent the extra effort to create entirely passive cooling systems for the battery and charger both, and made the motors fan integrated with the shaft so it only spins and makes noise when the motor shaft is spinning. 

Combined with the belt drive and the sine-wave AC drive to the motor, it makes for a really Zen-like quiet riding experience. 

The biggest factor on your riding noise becomes choosing a helmet that has excellent low-wind-noise performance.

It adds a little bit of weight and cost and heat-sink bulk vs having fans, but the silence and simplicity makes it all worth it IMHO. :-)

[RickSteeb]

...The biggest factor on your riding noise becomes choosing a helmet that has excellent low-wind-noise performance... :-)

Any recommendations?  My vintage Arai Quantum makes all kinds of whistles, visor up or down...

[skadamo]

I would also like to know but I think it is different for all based on angle of helmet. I found that putting a balaclava around my neck keeps things quieter. But that's not gonna work in the summer.

But I guess a windshield will do the same.... Keep wind off bottom of helmet.

[Richard230]

I decided to try to compare the 2012 Zero S “Sport” mode with its “Eco” mode to determine if it actually made any difference in energy consumption over a given route.  The one thing I know the Eco mode is good for is winning a slow race at a motorcycle rally and for tooling around congested parking lots full of children and loose shopping carts.  So I decided to ride my bike along the exact same route on two different days, using the same speeds and acceleration away from stops as best I could.  I think my decision to try this experiment might have had something to do with the dry, sunny, relatively warm (for the season) weather today and yesterday.   

My route was 41.4 miles long, traveling out of my hilly subdivision, north along Highway 1 to Sharp Park Road, up to the top of the coast range of hills, south along Highway 35 and then down along I-280, to Highway 92, up to the top of the coast range again and back down to the town of Half Moon Bay (where I saw regular gasoline being sold for $415.9 a gallon at the Chevron station!) and Highway 1 again, turning north and returning to Pacifica and my home back in the Linda Mar Valley.

Yesterday I tried the Eco mode.  Upon returning home, I had used 6 bars on the energy gauge. Recharging the battery pack required 4.70 kWh of power and took 5 hours to complete bulk charging.

Today I rode the identical route in Sport mode, doing my best to duplicate the same speed.  However, this wasn't entirely successful, as I ran into a little traffic that slowed me down in some areas and I was able to go faster in other areas.  I think it sort of averaged out, but it was hardly a scientific test.  The weather conditions were similar, perhaps a little warmer today and a little less windy.

Keeping the Zero in Sport mode resulted in needing 4.6 kWh of power and exactly 5 hours to compete bulk charging, as shown on my Kill A Watt meter. 

Based upon my test, there appears to be no significant difference between the two modes that can not be compensated for by your right wrist. I think I will just keep the bike in Sport mode and let my throttle hand control any need to extend my range.  Sport mode is just a lot more fun. 

I might note that I tried Sport mode up a long freeway hill and was able to hold 81 mph.  Trying the same thing in Eco mode got me to 78 mph.  Not a big difference.  The only real noticeable difference is how the bike accelerates between a full stop and about 10 mph.

I know, it is a tough job evaluating a new electric motorcycle, but someone has to do it.   

[oobflyer]

Richard - I have had the same experience. Any difference in range between 'Sport' and 'Eco' mode is negligible - on the longer rides. I imagine that it might make a difference if someone were to ride just around town where there are a lot of stop signs and red lights.

A good reason to stay in the 'Sport' mode is that if you forget that you are in 'Eco' mode and you pull out into traffic expecting to accelerate quickly - it can be a bit scary! Not that I, uh, ever did this....

I repeated runs at 70 MPH and 75 MPH since installing the windshield. I found no real difference in range at these speeds (with or without the windshield):

70 MPH: 36 Miles
75 MPH: 33 Miles

I tested the 'Reserve' capacity of the batteries last night - after riding the 33 miles at 75 MPH the last bar disappeared as I exited the freeway. The freeway off-ramp was 3 miles from my house. I rode at the city speed limits (25-40 MPH) the rest of the way home - without any apparent loss of power. I didn't push the limits any further than that - it was a bit eerie riding without any bars on the fuel gauge..., but it's nice to know that there are at least 3 miles to spare when running on empty.

[Richard230]

Thanks oobflyer, that is a real public service.     That is good to know.  Frankly, I am range nervous and wouldn't have the guts to give that a try.  I live near the top of a long hill and I really wouldn't want to push the bike home. I did that once with my GPR-S and practically had a heart attack.  

Maybe the "fuel" gauge really has 12 bars and they are just hiding the 12th one.  

[dkw12002]

In spite of what Zero says, namely that you cannot hurt the battery by running it down, I still have not brought myself to purposely do it, although I did run 1.5 miles or so with no bars when I first brought my Zero home with just a flashing gas pump icon. For all we know, you could go 10 miles on no bars, or maybe even 30 miles like with the low gas light on some vehicles. Hey, maybe that is where the discrepancy between stated range and our own estimated range numbers come from.  I can tell you what happens with an e-bike with a Li battery just before you run out of juice...the bike slows down and becomes sluggish and even then you can ease along slowly a little more at slow speed before grinding to a halt. That doesn't hurt my Amped Bike battery either, but of course if it happens 8 miles out, I just pedal home. It does point out how important speed and weight are though in battery usage, which unfortunately is probably where the 114 mile range comes from for the big battery...bicycle speed.