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[protomech]

Yep, I think 81 miles on a charge is farther than I've ever gone.

The bike was not terribly difficult to push, though I was worried about a 7% gradient hill that I would have to get it over. I was more worried about pushing it along a road with effectively no shoulder at night.

[Richard230]

Yesterday I rode my Zero for 100 miles. 20 of those miles were on the freeway at an average of 60 miles per hour and the rest were on two-lane highways at an average speed of 40 mph. I rode from my home in Pacifica to Fairfax, in Marin County, north of San Francisco, where I gave my bike a 3 kWh recharge, which completely recharged it after that 38 mile trip. Then I rode it another 20 miles north, to attend my granddaughter's middle-school graduation ceremony.  I then rode back to the freeway along Lucas Valley Road and took the freeway south, over the GG Bridge, though San Francisco and back home. Arriving home, I had ridden just over 100 miles and it took another 6.7 kWh to fully recharge my battery pack. I am pretty sure that I could have ridden the entire trip without recharging at my daughter's home, but I would have put the bike in Eco mode and ridden a little slower on the way back. So it looks like it is not too hard to get 10 miles per kWh of wall outlet power.  I am slowly starting to loose my "range anxiety"  as I do more riding of my ZF9 Zero S.   

If only the seat was a little softer. My butt was getting a little sore by the time I returned home and I had to sit on a soft couch to recover.   

[CliC]

...over the GG Bridge, though San Francisco...

Probably old hat to you residents, but I can think of few things cooler (even literally  ) than riding a Zero over the Golden Gate bridge

If only the seat was a little softer. My butt was getting a little sore by the time I returned home and I had to sit on a soft couch to recover.   

Mine gets a little hard on longer days, too, but then again I wonder if there's any long, thin, dirt-bike-style seat that's comfortable? I guess there are, or adventure touring wouldn't be as popular as it is.

[Lipo423]

A couple of days ago I rode 72 miles with my ZF9. Mostly of the trip (90%) was on the highway at 50-56 mph upright riding position -no tucking-. After the ride two bars left in the gauge 

Not too bad either...

[Richard230]

One of the things I forgot to mention about my ride was that as I was riding on Lucas Valley Road (home to guess who?), I had my bike in Eco mode and rode up a long hill, loosing a bar in the process. As I coasted down the other side of the hill, the bar returned.  Regen actually works.     Of course, a few miles later the bar disappeared again.   

[rotoiti]

Lucas Valley Road (home to guess who?),

The disadvantaged people? :-O

[manlytom]

great, great range you guys get out of the 2012 models. with the old 2010 and now my 2011 I am sitting at about 50km (31miles) save or maybe a bit more for a trip ....
that is going in average as well 30miles/hour in speed, up and down hills. decent fun riding. I am in fact disappointed that the 2010 to 2011 did not produce any real improvements.... seems the 2012 is it !

the older models seem to be more comparable to the XU/MX range with a smaller, but more modern battery and the new brushless motor.
My brushed Agni seems to go through moodes - some days beautiful performance, other days rather average and hear some more heavier motor turning (brushes??) combined with more energy usage...
anyway, on that one working with Zero and swapping parts as we go. wondering if I should follow the advise of successful MotoX racer with the Zero/Agni that fixed up the motor properly beyond the factory delivered... so anyone with the 2011 or older having such issues ?

[rotoiti]

My wife was riding our Zero DS yesterday. She doesn't have the license yet, just the learner's permit so she wasn't riding on any highways, just local roads -- I think she went to South SF and back. Her result was supreme: 72.9 miles on 7 bars (eco mode). She'd easily get over 110 miles if she continued. She is a full foot shorter than me and 70 pounds lighter -- the takeaway is that it takes energy to move mass through air...

[BSDThw]

Hi rotoiti,

so what do you think about a new "How to Diet" thread  just kidding.

But the better the efficiency of a device the more you will recognize the little changes like weight and wind resistance.

You will see a lot of girls will beat us soon, if they get hold of the Zeros.

[rotoiti]

so what do you think about a new "How to Diet" thread  just kidding.

No kidding, I could really shed some 20 pounds / 10 kilos, my heart would thank me for that... But even when I do become lighter I will still be almost 2m tall and that doesn't help with aerodynamic drag

[protomech]

Did another long ride this weekend, again an exploratory ride on the route to mom's house. Rode until I hit 5 bars discharged and turned around. Got caught in the rain without rain gear toward the tail end (curse you weather.com), so sped up a bit at the end to get home : )

Elevation / speed map here:
http://runkeeper.com/user/protomoto/activity/92658134

Spent several periods stopped, average speed while moving was about 45 mph.

Total distance covered was 68.0 miles per the bike odometer, 65.19 miles per the GPS. Bike speed and odometer are probably about 4% high.

Used 9.3 bars in total, which gives a total range of about 77 miles. Total distance for the trip is 83 miles, so it's just outside the feasible single-charge range for the bike. If I ever make the trip for real I'll probably stop and charge for 60-90 minutes partway through. Road speeds are mostly 55-65 mph, so with low traffic it can be done at a lower speed and keeping a careful eye on the road behind. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone, though.

Lost bars at the following distances:
8.0 10 bars remaining
12.6 9 bars remaining # note that went up a 700 foot elevation gain here
19.8 8 bars remaining
26.2 7 bars remaining
33.4 6 bars remaining, turn around
40.8 5 bars remaining
48.7 4 bars remaining
56.1 3 bars remaining # elevation drop doesn't seem to add much to range here
65.2 2 blinking bars remaining
67.9 end 2538.1 total miles

Here's a plot of battery capacity consumed vs estimated bars consumed:


It's not exactly linear, but when the 11th bar disappears you probably still have a bit of charge (15 Ah) or so left in the pack, or about 900 Wh. It's probably best for battery longevity that Zero isn't doing a 100% discharge.

[protomech]

Forgot to charge last night .. was messing with the bike, then wandered upstairs and got distracted : )

Left for work with a bit over 4 bars remaining, 46 miles already on the bike. Got home with 70 miles and about 1.2 blinking bars remaining.

Rode around the neighborhood at 20-25 mph; the final bar disappeared at 77.1 miles. Battery pack is at 16% with 0 bars showing.

Kept riding. There's a half mile loop around my house, I figured I would ride at ~20 mph around the loop until the bike stopped, then push it back.

At 92.1 miles I gave up and parked the bike. Battery pack is at 6%. Still seemed to pull pretty strongly when I twisted the grip, maybe a bit slower than normal.

If the bike kept going until it hit 0% remaining, it would have made it just over 100 miles.

[rotoiti]

Battery pack is at 16% with 0 bars showing.

How do you measure the remaining charge percentage?

[ColoPaul]

OK, all I have is a ZF6.
But I took the challenge and went 67.1 miles on a charge.  (the last bar disappeared at 62.3)
(7.9/5.3)*67.1 = 100
Does that count?

And protomech, like rotoiti I'm curious what device you're using to measure partial bars and battery pack % #'s.

[Brammofan]

The BMS has an onboard serial port. I'll post more details about this soon.

Dang...I really wish we had someone on the Brammo Forum who had dug into their bike like you have.