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[Ciaphas]

I've been thinking for a while about getting a 2016 Zero S--my first bike in just over a decade. I'm sort of new to the idea of electric vehicles--and totally new to electric bikes--so I had a couple general questions I'm having trouble Googling for.

First, falls. God willing that won't happen, but knowledge is power. In a given fall or collision or what have you, is an electric motorcycle more, or less, likely to suffer catastrophic/expensive damage than an ICE bike? I've heard all sort of things ranging from simple cable disconnections to severe and irreparable battery short-outs, from "the mirror falls off" to "the bike dies forever, RIP".

Second, heat. I live in Las Vegas, the land of 110 degree Fahrenheit (42C i think) summers. I know LiIon batteries suffer and lose capacity more quickly when left in the heat. Would something as simple as a bike cover while I'm at work ameliorate that at all, or is it likely I'm just going to have to suffer reduced capacity sooner than normal?

Thanks for reading!

[Cortezdtv]

With a gas bike when you crash you have nothing

When you crash an electric bike you still have a +5000$ battery.... So its less of a total loss, and from what ive seen done they crash suprisigly well...
If tou can keep the bike sliding and not flipping

I mean i dont know any bikes that flip and hold together that well....

I wouldnt worry about temp and loosing compasity or anything even in vegas; some will state small percentages, but you wont notice, your riding/driving style has way more to do with how much range you will end up even if you were to loose the top 5% of the top of your battery

[Ciaphas]

Lol, yeah, I was thinking more a slide or a low speed (~20mph) impact than flipping the bike out. If that happens I figure it's a miracle if I'm not dead, forget the damn bike.

And thanks for the reassurance on heat and capacity. It's still pretty surprising to me (though it also makes perfect sense) that going on the highway is so much worse than start-stop traffic for an electric, since that's dead opposite of everything I've been taught for ICEs. I suppose we'll see how much of a lead... uh, hand...?... I am.

[benswing]

So far Zeros have crashed well.  Either mirror damage or replace bike, but not dangerous to the rider.

Heat will be an issue only if you thrash the bike on a regular basis for high mileage.


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[protomech]

I've dropped my 2012 Zero once or twice. Or it's fallen over (kickstand failure). Or it's been backed into by a friend's car. Or I've hit scree and slid going through a corner.

They crash pretty well, all things considered. The plastics are cheap to replace - at least on the 2012s - and you don't have to worry about flooding an engine. Pick it back up, keep on riding.

A serious crash will probably total the bike, just as a gas bike. Try not to do that!

[KrazyEd]

I live in Vegas as well. I have a DIY Electric Katana, that I fried the motor on. Probably my fault, tried to get too much out of it for too long.
I had a 2012 XU, which was destroyed after being drug for an extended distance under an SUV, and, have had my 2013 FX for a little over a
year and a half. My general riding is for range, so, not usually ridden that hard. I work in Henderson, finishing work at 7 p.m.
As you are aware, this is just after the hottest part of the day in the summer. Thursday Nights, Cycle Gear on Decatur has bike night until 8 p.m.
I jump on the Freeway, and, ride there at around 80+ mph. I have never had any issues or, warning lights on my FX.
My XU would be wringing it's guts out on that same ride, hitting it's top speed of around 70, also having Zero heating issues.
As far as a bike cover goes, it would keep the sun off the bike, but, if in direct sun, it may actually increase the heat of the stationary bike
because of lack of air flow. I know that the charger won't charge above, or, below certain temperatures. I have never had mine NOT charge because of being too hot.
I do my best to not park it in direct sun, so, this may help. I have only had it not charge when too cold once or twice, and, that was after
riding in 30 degree weather for an hour or so ( Low speeds ), then plugging it in when I got home. It would flash green, like usual, then, go dark.
I would come out the next morning, and the light would be green again, and, fully charged. Bikes are kept in garage, so, out of Hottest or coldest parts of the day.
I don't generally have battery temperature showing on my Zero app, so, couldn't tell you the temperature.

[Ciaphas]

Thanks, KrazyEd. My specific concern with heat is that, where I work and with my work schedule (9 AM to 8:30 PM, generally), my bike'd be parked without cover for literally the entire day under direct sunlight (and there's really nowhere I can park that gets any reliable amount of shade--unless I park next to a Ford F350 or something at the right angle, lol)

My commute is only about 10 miles of streets, so I'm not at all worried about thrashing the thing day to day, I just worry about all that heat while parked doing a job on the battery. (I'm less concerned about losing performance over time than I am about somehow frying the thing outright, but perhaps that's not a reasonable thing to fear. 's why I asked!)

(Good point about a bike cover possibly making it worse, though, by trapping heat. Hadn't considered that.)

[KrazyEd]

The bike won't operate if the battery pack temperature is over 140 degrees. This is a strong possibility if sitting in such a situation for such a long period of time.
Every year when it starts to get hot, tv stations do stories about how hot things get here. I have seen dash temperatures reaching 165 degrees in about half an hour.
I am a Valet. When I worked at the Excalibur, our parking was all outdoors. We would have several cars each year blow windshields out because of excessive heat
built up in locked cars. If you have the option of being near a building, you could do some sort of " lean to " type deal to shield the bike from the sun, and, still
allow air flow. If you have a semi permanent parking space, there are motorcycle "tents" that could be used, but, are not necessarily easily portable on a motorcycle.
Few options are optimal in the Vegas heat, but, given that you will be arriving before it is TOO hot, and, leaving shortly after sun set, is there an area that could be
accessed where there IS some available shade that you could walk to and from the bike. Still uncomfortable for YOU, but, less continual heat on the bike.
I was run over on my XU in July, and, was out of commission for 6 weeks. When I started getting mobile again, I was doing a lot of walking to get back in shape.
Several days I walked 4 miles in 104~110 temperatures ( make sure that you wear a hat ). Very uncomfortable, but, less than I had anticipated.

[BenS]

Regarding using a bike cover and possibly trapping hot air, I think that if you cut holes in the cover at each end, or just used a cover that was open at each end(and somehow secured with rope to avoid it flying away), that it would keep direct sunlight off the batteries, and still allow enough air flow.

[Ciaphas]

Unfortunately it's an open parking lot (near McCarran) with no real available shade. If I do get the bike (and that's seeming likely--test ride tomorrow), I'll have to try BenS' idea of opening the cover to air flow somehow.

[Cortezdtv]

Can you just park it on the side on building? Instead of the parking lot just curious? Yikes ed!! Windows poping out, im scared ill just stay by the beach over here, that is far to hot for my ass

[Ciaphas]

Only way I could do that is if I lock it to the bicycle rack and tell the guards "it's totally a bicycle, honest, it's just custom! See, no engine!" Somehow I don't think that'd fly. Though it would be funny!

[Erasmo]

You can get a small 2-3W solar panel and run a 12V computer fan with it, plenty of sun in Las Vegas.

[Richard230]

How about hooking up a fan to the on-board 12V circuit?  I doubt that if the fan ran all day it would have too much of an impact on the battery charge. Besides you wouldn't need to run it every day, just days when the ambient temperature was over 100 degrees F.

[mrwilsn]

How about hooking up a fan to the on-board 12V circuit?  I doubt that if the fan ran all day it would have too much of an impact on the battery charge. Besides you wouldn't need to run it every day, just days when the ambient temperature was over 100 degrees F.

The 12V circuit isn't live when the bike is off.

I bought a 12V battery and used Velcro to attach it to the top of the DC-DC converter under the tank. It's a 6Ah pack from Talentcell. It's lithium and the built in BMS keeps from charging above 12.6 V which means they should last a long time. I use a standard battery tender charger to charge instead of the charger it came with because the SAE plug I connected to the battery has a rubber cap to keep water out. I ran the cable down next to the passenger peg for easy access.  The battery only cost $30 on Amazon.

I use mine to run some XKGlow LEDs but a battery like this could be used to run a fan on hot days. 6Ah can run a small fan for a pretty long time.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MF70BPU/ref=sr_ph_1?qid=1451096698&sr=sr-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=talentcell

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