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[firepower]

How Zero electric Motorcycles are made.



How Lithium-Ion Batteries are made.

https://youtu.be/VTFX1wTA7AU?t=15m47s

[Richard230]

That video showing how Zero motorcycles are manufactured was very interesting.  I was surprised to see how much hand assembly is performed - and how much grease was used in the battery pack and electronic systems assembly.  That leads me to believe that many of the problems with Zero motorcycles discussed by their owners on this forum probably have a lot to do with inconsistent assembly from one motorcycle to the next.  In particular, the amount and application of that waterproofing grease could easily vary from one assembly to the next and not using enough grease could certainly result in problems during rainy rides or in humid environments.  You would think that there could be better ways to completely waterproof the electronic systems and connectors on the bike.     Not all riding environments are as dry as California.   

[CrashCash]

That's about the same amount of hand assembly as a Honda Goldwing, which is another "How it's made" video - I've been watching them for at least 5 years. You should see how they hand-assemble the flat-six with all the special tools they use.

Motorcycles are still not high volume enough to make robotic assembly economic. There's also not a lot of welding, which is where robotic assembly makes money.

Comparing my 2015 SR to that 2014 S, they've made detail improvements in the waterproofing. It's not all just grease. I'd like to see them use labyrinthine sealed connectors like my Japanese bikes, but I hear those are in a lot of cases proprietary to the bike manufacturer.

[CrashCash]

How it's made - Goldwings:

The frame and plastics are robotically painted, but everything else is by hand, including the engine. Note that the frames are hand welded.

[Richard230]

Earlier this year I saw a video showing how BMW motorcycles were made.  It looked like the LC boxer engine was almost completely manufactured by robots, with only installation of the major assemblies performed by hand on an assembly line.  What they didn't show though, was how the wiring loom was installed on the bike.  I'll bet that takes a certain amount of hand labor.     The Germans sure love their manufacturing robots.  I guess it has something to do with their labor costs, along with their familiarity and experience with automated manufacturing. (Funded, no doubt by the price of their vehicles.     ) From what I have seen, German car manufacturers are really into automation.  I have heard that Tesla is big on robots, too.

No doubt Zero would have to produce (and sell) many more units each year to make any sort of automation economical.  But I was surprised not to see some sort of an assembly line.   

[Cortezdtv]

That video showing how Zero motorcycles are manufactured was very interesting.  I was surprised to see how much hand assembly is performed - and how much grease was used in the battery pack and electronic systems assembly.  That leads me to believe that many of the problems with Zero motorcycles discussed by their owners on this forum probably have a lot to do with inconsistent assembly from one motorcycle to the next.  In particular, the amount and application of that waterproofing grease could easily vary from one assembly to the next and not using enough grease could certainly result in problems during rainy rides or in humid environments.  You would think that there could be better ways to completely waterproof the electronic systems and connectors on the bike.     Not all riding environments are as dry as California.   

LOL


I have yet to see a problem by water intruding in a battery in all these threads.....


Most were part malfunctions; clearly people who complain have never bought more than 10 automobile parts, you always get a brand new bad part...
Controller plug water issues  Yes
Anderson charge plug not covered and letting water in.... Yes
Mbb plug yes
Ccu plug yes
Dc to do issues yes

Bad battery management system (bms). Yes seems somewhat common, none posted on this forum with bms issues said the bike got wet. The ones that got the charge port wet this or that tilically had other issues




And .... that was a late 2012 or very early 2013 bike by the dash cluster..... So a little behind but good for the average person to see a little more I guess

[protomech]

I have yet to see a problem by water intruding in a battery in all these threads.....

I had water intrusion in my 2012 monolith about two years ago, which damaged the lower brick. The internal bricks are not weatherproofed. The observed behavior was that the effective capacity seemed to be cut in about half: a full charge would charge the bike to 8 or 9 bars, and the battery would cut out somewhere around 2 to 3 bars remaining.

I shipped the bike back to Zero and they replaced the monolith. No problems since, though the front plate is now sealed with some type of grease.