Knock on wood, but my very-early-build 2014 S has a charger that has always worked perfectly on the non-surge-protected 120V coming out of my garage wall socket. Hearing about these charger problems recently makes me wonder if Zero switched charger manufacturers sometime in late 2014 and they received some bad ones.
I purchased my 2014 S in August of 2014 and I haven't had any issues with my charger yet with over 10K on the ODO. Just because I purchased it in August doesn't tell me when the bike was made. Is there a way to tell?
It sounds like the chargers that have failed are doing so pretty early so hopefully I don't have a lemon. Though, once I get my Super Charger in a week or so it won't matter. It it does stop working I will want to get it fixed while it's still under warranty but I will still be able to charge while I wait for claims to be filed and parts to be ordered etc.
For what its worth, my experience with Zero warranty issues has been mostly positive. I did have some issues with the plastic on my bike. All three panels around the battery developed cracks around the screws and the Z fell off the tank on one side. Depending on which side you were looking at I was either riding a 'Zero S' or an 'ero S'. I took some pictures and sent them to the dealer who then filed the claim. Zero sent new parts and the dealer shipped them to me since the dealer is 300 miles away. I ended up with three new plastic panels for around the battery and a brand new tank. I wasn't expecting a new tank....I thought they would just send a decal kit. The only problem was they sent me the plastic for a power tank, which I don't have. I haven't said anything because it's not really worth the hassel. I love the storage in the tank (wish there was more) so I never put the new tank on the bike. I took all the letters off the tank on both sides so now I have a badgeless bike. I never put the other new plastic on the bike either. As it turns out, I now have a brand new tank that I can use if I decide to mount my new DigiNow Super Charger there.
This happened 2 months after I bought the bike. I'm not sure Zero would send new plastic for a bike that was older. I have been told by a dealer that its not too expensive to buy new plastic from Zero....at least compared to the Honda parts he is used to buying.