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[hungff77]

I got the 2011 zero XU for over 3 months already, I have ride it to work, grocery shopping, errands, or a short leisure ride after dinner. I find once you realize what the zero bike is and you will be very happy with it.

To me a zero is:
a commuter bike. - it takes you from point A to point B, recharge in point B, and ride back to point A.
It is also a perfect bike for short errand trip, you won't feel pain to ride a 8km distance to a grocery, buy some yogurt, and then another 8km home. You won't feel you waste so much gas just because all you want is to buy 1 orange.
It is good for a short ride around the neighbourhood. There is no noise to irritated your neighbour, and most of them will find the Zero is a cool bike.

A Zero is not:
A Touring bike. I will not ride my Zero to tour around the town, even if I know where is the electric plug.
Definite not for cross country.
If you like to mechanically upgrade and tweak your bike in every imaginable way you can, a zero is definite not your cup of tea. I own scooter before and I actually transform it from air-cool to liquid-cooling, but when I got a zero, all I can do is just some minor body mod. May be I am just not that good at electrical and software engineering.

So I receive good and bad comments on my XU, some laughs at the range, but some just find it so cool to ride on it. But as long as you know your range, purpose, and where you can recharge your bike, a Zero is definitely a fun and cool bike to have.

I love my Zero!!!

Frank

[ed5000]

I got to test drive a 2011 XU this weekend and it's a great little bike.  It has plenty of go and the top speed of 50mph is perfect for around town.  The local Zero dealer here has this model on sale for $3500 which is a great price considering how much a larger Zero goes for.  What kind of range are you getting with your XU?

[hungff77]

Here is the situation I have:
The way I ride to work consisted of a stretch of the rode that goes 80kph(around 50mph), and a couple uphill climb. After I arrive my work place, I rode around 19.6km and had 1 bar left.
On the same way home, some downhill and also the stretch of 80kph road, and when I arrive home, I have about 3bar left.

so on average, I get around 23km range, which is around 14miles. Takes around 2hrs to full charge.

[craigq]

I agree, commuting these bikes are great. I had a conversation with a guy on an e-bicycle at a red light today about the XU.


After reading about the 2011 XU range and owning a 2012 XU I would wait for the demo 2012's to go on sale if you want to get an XU. Of course the 2013's will probably bring about another bunch of improvements and you could play this waiting game forever...


FWIW I typed this up today for a person asking about the 2012 XU range:

 "my commute is about 46 KM round trip, takes about 2.2 kWh to charge (so about 48 Wh per KM) and the pack has 2.6 kWh capacity, so extrapolation from my commute characteristics the maximum range would be about 54 KM. Round-trip my commute has about 6 KM at 50 kph, 30 KM at 60 kph, 10 KM at 80 kph, but the afternoon commute is usually slower, i.e. the 80 kph sections are usually top speed 70 kph."