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[kingcharles]

Today I had my long test ride on the 2013 Zero S. The 11.4 model.
I arrived at the ANWB test centre at 09:00 and found the bike fully charged with a solid green light connected to the 220V outlet. Good!
http://flic.kr/p/eAWwjz
I brought my Mennekes adaptor and charge card that I use on my Vectrix so I would be able to charge en route if required. I also brought one of my daughters to test the quality of the buddy seat  . (She found it too hard for longer rides, and she had trouble hanging on when accelerating hard. There is little "butt grip" on the buddy. Pretty good review for a 12 year old I thought, but remember, she is used to the plushy seat of the Vectrix.)
At 09:45 we set off for our day trip, we had to be back at 16:00. I had planned the trip to ensure that I would be able to stop and charge and the total travel distance would be about 165 kilometres. Here is a link to the google maps route:
A couple of weeks earlier I tested a 2012 Zero S http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=2794.0 so I was happy to find out that the few things I disliked are solved on the 2013 bike. Most important the handling is now much better and feels rock solid. After a few corners you can read the bike as if you had owned it for a year. I did not fully like the suspension setup on the test bike but off course I was carrying a passenger today (bit too hard on the front and bit too soft on the rear).
After about 60 kilometres we were riding along the IJssel river and we caught up with a few gas bikes. Riding along the river means corners and the Zero easily kept up! even with a passenger. My daughter weighs about 45 kilograms, myself about 80 and with gear I think we added 130 kg to the weight of the bike. Obviously I was in Sport mode! Used ECO mode for the boring straights in and out of Flevoland.
After 100 km the fuel gauge started blinking (bottom 2 bars) and I headed for the nearest charge point. At 11:45 we plugged in the bike and headed for lunch!
http://flic.kr/p/eAZy3C
As I knew we needed to do at least 65 more kilometres and the last bit would be with headwind I made it a long lunch:). About 2 hours and 20 minutes of charging would give about 3 KWh and the two flashing bars still in the "tank" should be enough was my judgement.
At 14:05 we unplugged and headed back to the ANWB test centre. We took it real easy and made another 20 minutes stop for a cola in Garderen.
At 16:45 we arrived at the ANWB with zero bars remaining and reduced speed to a maximum of 50 kilometres/hour! Talk about cutting it close!
After nearly 4 years of driving a Vectrix I knew we would make it and pushed the last 10 kilometres pretty hard to see how far it would go.
So great stuff from Zero: handling is now great, range is great, the tank bag is really useful! And the torque, well it is very addictive...
I tried the Zero App but could not get it to pair with my phone, I gave up after 10 seconds, I was there to ride.

The only downside I think is the AC charger, there are very little CHAdeMO chargers which means you only have the painfully slow 1,3KW charger.
So my advice to Zero: get a bigger AC charger into next years bike!!

I will wait until October before I make a purchase decision: Brammo Empulse might be coming, BMW's scooter might be coming, Zero's 2014 model improvements? My only concern is if the battery of my Vectrix can also wait that long... But I expected it to fail last year and it still works (just) so why not another few months.

[dkw12002]

Outside of California, there are very few CHAdeMO chargers in the US and for home use, I suspect most people with electric cars just use an adapter for 110 rather than invest in new wiring. Of course Zero could have the 220 charger and provide an adapter for 110 free which is what they would almost certainly have to do. The problem with quick charging as I see it is still that it is no where quick enough, plus what if you rely on it and it and the 1 station is down or being used? There is enough anxiety with range already to add another uncertainty. The ChAdeMo charger offers me no advantage at all at this point. I hope they can come up with a better system......much faster in the near future. That or a quantum leap in range. Electric vehicles cannot take off until that happens.

[kingcharles]

Just to make clear: EU uses 220-240 Volt AC with multiple 16 amp breakers in every household.
The Netherlands is covered with 3,7kW Charging spots using the Mennekes plug. Just check out this map: http://www.oplaadpalen.nl/link/3673ffffff000000ff/52.12/5.29/8

[Richard230]

My personal preference would be to keep the 2013's 120V on-board charger and perhaps Zero could offer a 240V EV charging plug system as an accessory that would charge faster then the stock 1.3 kW on-board charger.  That way I could continue to charge up at home without wiring my house for 240V (my appliances that would run on 240V are natural gas powered and I have no 240V outlets) and haul around a J-gun if I was going on a longer trip than usual.  For me, the $180 CHAdeMO is way too expensive.  For that kind of money, I could buy a used IC motorcycle and ride that on longer trips - that is if I already didn't have too many such bikes in my garage.   

[BSDThw]

Nice report,

Hope to test rid a 2013 soon but I guess I have to do a similar thing as you did with your Vectrix ride mine for some years!

The 2013 is able to use a second charger so you can double up. Unfortunately only 2 charger, the  2012 are able to use 4 chargers. (personally I use three) but having a CHAdeMO inlet you also could use a high current 230VAC to DC supply for fast charging. Actually I guess it would be possible without the CHAdeMO like terry is doing with his 2012S.

[protomech]

It's important to distinguish between three different things for charging:

1. AC mains input

Zero has always offered chargers that are compatible with a wide range of voltages: typically 85-265V AC, 50-60 Hz. This makes them mains compatible with virtually every country in the world. They also can plug straight into a J1772 charger gun with a fairly straightforward $400 adapter.

2. Physical inlet type

Zero uses a C14 inlet. Brammo Empulse has a J1772 inlet.

3. Onboard charger power

1 kW for pre-2013 Zeros. 1.3 kW for 2013 S / DS. 3 kW for Empulse.

In theory all of these configurations are possible:
1. 120V, IEC C14, 3+ kW ex: C13 to L5-30
2. 240V, IEC C14, 1 kW ex: current Zero on Euro mains
3. 120V, J1772 level 1, 1 kW ex: level 1 EVSE plugged into J1772 inlet

[kingcharles]

The 2013 is able to use a second charger so you can double up. Unfortunately only 2 charger, the  2012 are able to use 4 chargers. (personally I use three) but having a CHAdeMO inlet you also could use a high current 230VAC to DC supply for fast charging. Actually I guess it would be possible without the CHAdeMO like terry is doing with his 2012S.

That would be a good idea, but where to mount the second charger for permanent access. It has to be waterproof and look good at the same time.
Maybe the 8.5 version has some empty space in the battery box for the secomd charger?

[BSDThw]

I don't know how the 2013 Charger look, but mine are in my GIVI E21 Boxes.

[CliC]

What I'd like to see is a 120/240 charger that had a configurable power draw from the outlet, say, 10-20-30 amps, maybe with the phone app. That would allow you to charge as fast as the source would allow. If I needed any more than 240V at 30 amps I'd just use Chademo.

[BSDThw]

This would be nice,
I have only the old-fashion way I can decide to one on-board, two in the case or all three , but i would like to have ~60A (C0,5) in a smaller format !