Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Doctorbass]

Doctorbass DIY Side case battery range extender.

After I finished the 2013 motor upgrade on my S 2012 next step before going to the size 6 controller is improving the range for some long trip.

My choice is to add battery on the side of the motorcycle and to have them removable easy. I just bought 6kWh of additional cells for my Zero and I will add them in parallel to the actual ZF9 battery pack.
Problem is that the existing side case available all are rated for about 20-25 pounds and I need twice that capacity. solution is:  DIY !!! just like every special  needs I have for my Zero 


Actually I’m doing a real 120km at 90km/h and 165km at an  average 60km/h. This mean with that new ZF15 I should be able to go between 200km and 280km on a single charge.

This will add about 110 pounds to the rear of the motorcycles but that will be closer to the ground than a passenger so the handling should not be so affected.

The two most complicated part is to remove the actual ZF9 pack.. .OMG !! 
then open it and solder some parallel wires from the cells  to a sealed DB25 female and also add a
SB120 connector for paralleling battery MAIN connection before the contactor. (I’ll add a 400A fuse inside as well)

Also to DIY and install a battery rack capable of holding 55 pounds of battery on each side of the Zero!! Terry did it with a lot more weight so it should not be so complicated!

I bought for about 250$ CAD two great Pelican case that will perfectly make the cells waterproof.

These days I’m seriously scratching my head about how the hell I will build this rack… woof, Steel, aluminum… that will all depend on the acces and tools I can  have to build with these material.  I have a steel welder at home so the steel might be the best cheap decision. The wood is also very simple but I doubt the strength will be up to the task without torsioning
I’m also wondering if I re-enforce  and protect the cells structure in case of the motorcycle slide and fall on the side to avoid firework on the potentially scratched cells…

This project will be really improving the long ride on my Zero. With  a real 200+ km range and a 6.6kW fast charger this will improve a lot the  travelling experience.

[trikester]

Sounds great, Doc. It will be interesting to follow your progress.

As for protection of the cells; in my opinion the Pelican case is all you need. Those cases are very tough!

Trikester

[Doctorbass]

I will add a 1/4 thick aluminum plate on each end of the 36 cells stack to keep cells compressed and keep their shape and as well protect against impact or puncture.

I will also reprogram the BMS to manage 200Ah instead of 120Ah and have the  battery fuel indicator adjusted.

I will use probably gauge 20 wires for the bms cell connections thru the db25 and use gauge 4 or 2  for the main power parallel connections.

[Doug S]

I agree with Trikester, it sounds like a terrific project! Who wouldn't want at least the option of an extended battery pack?

I haven't had my SR apart at all yet (too busy riding it, and I haven't had any troubles yet), but I've noticed that at least from the outside, the battery enclosure actually appears quite narrow, especially when compared to the engine on some bikes. It seems like Zero could pretty easily package a battery pack twice the size of the 11.4 kWh pack on the bike, as an extra-cost option of course. It would also add weight, but very low in the bike, which is pretty light at its current 407 pounds.

If that had been available to me, I'd have seriously considered it.

[protomech]

ZF15 = 13.2 kWh, just a bit more capacity than the 2014 ZF14.2 = 12.5 kWh bikes.

280 km @ 60 km/h is a long, slow ride.. with your fast charger, you will probably see better trip times by riding at a higher speed, when you have a choice of routes. Of course, sometimes the prettiest roads are slower.

Will you make the side battery packs removable for a lighter ride when you do not need the extra range?

[WindRider]

Great project Doc.  Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.   

The pelicans are a great choice...   They are very sturdy and watertight but easy to open for service.   

You might want to check this site out:   http://cariboucases.com
They make pelican case based pannier solutions and DIY kits.   It might make more sense to start with a pannier / rack system that is well proven on another bike and modify it to fit your Zero as opposed to starting from scratch. 

Another company that makes nice and well proven luggage rack systems is Happy Trails:  http://www.happy-trail.com

[Richard230]

ZF15 = 13.2 kWh, just a bit more capacity than the 2014 ZF14.2 = 12.5 kWh bikes.

280 km @ 60 km/h is a long, slow ride.. with your fast charger, you will probably see better trip times by riding at a higher speed, when you have a choice of routes. Of course, sometimes the prettiest roads are slower.

Will you make the side battery packs removable for a lighter ride when you do not need the extra range?

Protomech, regarding your first comment above:  If you can believe the Zero app, my 14.2 Zero S has a capacity of 13.34 kWh when fully charged.  Assuming that figure is right it occurs to me that Zero may be pushing their battery packs to 90% of nominal capacity, instead of the industry standard of 80%.  What do you think?

[protomech]

Nominal capacity for the ZF14.2 is 12.5 kWh, each module is 2.5 kWh nominal.

I guess that 13.34 kWh figure is recharge energy, not stored energy .. or they're representing it as "maximum capacity", which would be super weird. Do you see that energy figure in the app or on the dash?

[Richard230]

Nominal capacity for the ZF14.2 is 12.5 kWh, each module is 2.5 kWh nominal.

I guess that 13.34 kWh figure is recharge energy, not stored energy .. or they're representing it as "maximum capacity", which would be super weird. Do you see that energy figure in the app or on the dash?

The energy figure is shown on the app.  Attached is a photo taken when the bike was brand new.  It now shows 13.34 when fully charged.

[Doctorbass]

Hey guys, my project is going well. i am securing the cells stack with aluminum sides to avoid them to deform and torsion the cells. Well it will be a battery case inside  a battery case

Yes i plan to be able to remove the battery inside and use the case for other purpose. The case will be also removable from the motorcycle. This extend the project time by serious delay but i'm convinced it worth alot doing it that way.

What is giving me headhache is the connector for the paralleling to the actuak zf9 battery. My original plan was to use some 24 pins Molex ATX power supply connector because they have all pins protected so it make impossible to short these with metal parts. problem is the delay to get these ATX EXTENSION CABLE is too long for my schedule. These are rare!. Teh one i would need is the one that have cable of 36 inches long. This woudl be perfect to link every cell group and every pack groups. I need 19 pins to long the BMS monitoring cells feature for the 18 cells parallel groups so this cable would be perfect: http://www.ebay.com/itm/261147894269?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649



But i need something that i can assemble this week i  just can't wait shipping from ebay seller...

I might end out to use the DB25 wich is teh cheap and currently availlable solution. I will have tio use dielectric grease.


I will post picture o fmy actual updated work soon.


As for the optimum speed to drive at to make the shortest time as possible i made a excel optimization spread sheet to calculate, according to availlable real capacity, charging power and distance to travel etc. It end out to be 75km/h the best speed to use.

I dont want to drive during the night so i will divide that trip of 1000km each way in two half of 500km. for the 500km at 75kmh the calculated time is 9.75hours and 2 additional charges.
If i drive at 100kmh this time raise to 11hours and 3 additional charge.

btw i have measured the real battery capacity without and with regen. When i did 165km test teh real energy coming from the ZF9 battery was 7.98kWh + 300Wh of regen for a total of 8.28kWh energy to the motor. This was with the old stock motor. I will test with the new motor the consumption of Wh vs various speed.

see NEW TEST From FULL TO EMPTY
http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=3152.msg15941#msg15941][url]http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=3152.msg15941#msg15941[/url]

btw the total charging power i have is not 6.5kW but 7.5kW if i include the stock Zero charger =)

According to my spreadsheet
The higher the charging power is the higher best speed to use is. The battery size dont matter too much. The battery size only allow you to have more distance between charge point.

Doc

[Doctorbass]

From my original post in september 2013:

NEW TEST From FULL TO EMPTY

These are data from a completly empty battery ( speed limited to 20km/h at end of Battery capacity) and battery voltage under 58V

Doc Tested spec:
Tested battery capacity  ( no Regen): 122.7Ah ( at 5046km age)
Tested battery capacity (Including regen amp): 127.4Ah
Tested energy:  8276Wh ( including regen energy)
Nominal voltage (calculated) 8276Wh/127.4Ah = 65Volts
Tested energy (no regen): = 122.7Ah x 65 = 7975Wh
Regen Ah: 4.7Ah (3.8 %)
Discharged voltage: Volts 59.5V
Nominal Volts:        65Volts
Fully charged Volts: 75.0Volts
Wh/km = 8276Wh/ 109.4km = 75.64Wh per km (include used additinal regen energy)

Trip was made of about 50km of highway at 65Mph

What impress me is that at this state the pack that is at 3.30V per cells is still balanced at 25mV diff from the high to the low cell !!!  damn!! Luke you did an amazing job on that 2012 design!!!!


So i got a true 122.7Ah out of the 120 rated Ah
and a real 7975Wh out of the rated 7.9kWh
 

Doc