Print

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

[calamarichris]

2018 SR vs. BMW F800GT

2018 SR without Powertank, according to Zero's site
Range                    112 miles (hwy)     223 miles (city)
Cost to Recharge     $1.61                   $1.61
Cost per mile       $0.0144               $0.0072


2015 F800GT (been averaging 48mpg city & hwy combined)
Range                    192 miles (city)
4 gallons @ $3.20     $12.80
Cost per mile        $0.0667

That coupled with the free charging station across the street from my house, this bike should pay for itself pretty quickly.

[MrDude_1]

if you're going to do these numbers, you need to include vehicle cost, resale, and number of miles traveled.

[calamarichris]

Meh--too many variables in a lifetime to include all of them. I was just curious about Zero's claimed fuel costs vs. actual gasoline costs. My BMW does pretty good and has enough squirt to keep ahead of anything on four wheels while still getting 48mpg, but the SR (according to Zero's website) buries that.

Edit: Hey, you can work out the other costs and post it in here!

[MrDude_1]

Meh--too many variables in a lifetime to include all of them. I was just curious about Zero's claimed fuel costs vs. actual gasoline costs. My BMW does pretty good and has enough squirt to keep ahead of anything on four wheels while still getting 48mpg, but the SR (according to Zero's website) buries that.

Edit: Hey, you can work out the other costs and post it in here!

sure.
zero SR is about 16,500.
F800GT is about 12,000.
so theres about a 4,500 deficit to make up for carrying the same fuel(batteries).
for now, we'll ignore the depreciation rates... but lets just say electrics lose more value.

going off your numbers... .0108 avg per mile for the zero vs .0667 for the bmw...
so it saves 0.0559 per mile.
4,500/0.0559=80500.89

so you only need to ride the SR a bit over 80,000 miles before you break even on the fuel cost vs the upfront cost of electric.

[Richard230]

Meh--too many variables in a lifetime to include all of them. I was just curious about Zero's claimed fuel costs vs. actual gasoline costs. My BMW does pretty good and has enough squirt to keep ahead of anything on four wheels while still getting 48mpg, but the SR (according to Zero's website) buries that.

Edit: Hey, you can work out the other costs and post it in here!

sure.
zero SR is about 16,500.
F800GT is about 12,000.
so theres about a 4,500 deficit to make up for carrying the same fuel(batteries).
for now, we'll ignore the depreciation rates... but lets just say electrics lose more value.

going off your numbers... .0108 avg per mile for the zero vs .0667 for the bmw...
so it saves 0.0559 per mile.
4,500/0.0559=80500.89

so you only need to ride the SR a bit over 80,000 miles before you break even on the fuel cost vs the upfront cost of electric.

Don't forget insurance premiums.  My Zero S is charged more by Progressive per year than my BMW RS and three times what I am charged for my F650GS.   

[originalspacerob]

That is really interesting on the insurance. Thats not the first time I read this here.
    I have Allsate and I pay $100 per year for insurance with full coverage and a $100 deductible. The dealer and myself were blown away. I double checked and the insurance company didnt mix anything up.  Maybe its the area your located in?  Or allstate doesn’t know what progressive knows yet?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Starpower]

My insurance is also under $100 for full coverage but a $500 deductible. I did an experiment charging my ‘13 S with 12.5 battery on gasoline. I used a 2kW genset and 1 gallon of gas gave a 60 mile range so one could also say it gets 60 mpg in effect.

It’s extremely difficult to compare costs without a lot of data. A BMW was used here ignoring their high maintenance costs for one point. And we don’t want to talk about the difference in manufacture support and customer service!!

The majority of us don’t buy bikes based on this discussion it’s pure gut appeal. I don’t fault the Harley guys or scooters. I have a BMW S1000R and this Zero, talk about extremes in bikes! I love them both for very different reasons and rides.

Happy New Year!

[dukecola]

The Zero operating cost can be lower than that depending where you live and what your rates are. CA has some of the highest electric rates in the country. I pay less than their "discount" off peak rate.  Anyway, I see you are a newbe and mentioned you charge across the street. I hope you put a sign on your bike that it's OK to unplug if someone else really needs a charge. That's just proper EV etiquette.

[Richard230]

The insurance premium for my electric motorcycles seems to be doubling every year.  In 2009 I started paying only $5 a year, then after the Boeing and hover board incidents, it started taking off, until now i pay more than for my R1200RS or FZ1.  Apparently, insurance companies may be worried about potential liability due to fires or explosions.  (I only carry third party liability insurance.)   

[NEW2elec]

I pay $32 every six months    That gives me crash and theft coverage.  I dropped my uninsured coverage since I figure I'd be dead anyway.

As for the mileage cost, the app tell you "about" how much you have saved by not using gas.  My 21,000 miles shows about $1200 savings.

But if you want to try to make it anywhere near as cheap over all as a gas bike you just need to do one thing.  Buy used

A $9000 2015 SR gives you a lot of upgrade and repair cost wiggle room.  A 2018 SR with fees and taxes will be closer to $19000.  That is more than an IPM motor replacement, two digi super chargers, windscreen, riding gear, hard cases and rack. 

[Richard230]

An interesting chart was included in the BMW C-Evolution article published in the January issue of Motorcycle Consumer News, that compared the cost of riding a C-Evolution scooter and a BMW C650GT scooter for 12,000 miles, based upon $130 per hour labor cost (which is what I pay at my BMW dealer), using BMW's recommended maintenance schedules.  Here is the breakdown:

C-Evolution: 7.7 MPkWh, at $0.09 per kWh (about half of what I pay) = $140.26;  Maintenance costs = $455; for a total of $490.26.

C650GT: 51.3 MPG at $2.85 (I pay 50 cents more per gallon) = $666.66; Maintenance costs = $1,716.00 (ouch!); for a total of $1,986.66.

[Ndm]

just doing some basic comparisons, in Canada the SR with powertank is $28577 w/tax and the 2018 Suzuki gsxr 750 with tax is $14423- almost half!
 insurance is comparable, gas and maintenance combined still don't come close to the difference, you could buy a new bike when the first one needs maintenance, just sayin'

[calamarichris]

Why so expensive in Canada? Duties imposed? Weak Canadian dollar?

[Ndm]

It appears that we pay a $1500cad premium on zero but enjoy price parity with Suzuki (which means the Suzuki is $3000 cad cheaper here) still when you look at the prices of zero with a power tank and then add chargers to make it a moderate touring bike you are well over $30 k, that same bike used if you can find one loses half of its value, I paid 36k tax in for my Bolt!

[KrazyEd]

Two things.
Number One. The range figures that you posted were for the SR WITH power tank
Number Two. My 2013 FX is and has been dirt cheap with progressive.
When I got my 2016 SR used, it was exponentially more expensive than all of my other
bikes combined. Ended up switching SR to a different company. Overall performance
for a 2016 SR 13KW is similar to a Kawasaki Z 650, other than the 650 having a top
speed about 30% higher.
Will try to talk to Progressive again later this year when insurance is due.