Perhaps I can clear up some confusion. kW = kilowatts, a measure of instantaneous power. One kW equals 1.34 horsepower. A kWh (notice the addition of the h) is a kilowatt-hour, which is a measure of energy, in our world most often used to describe battery capacity. An 11kWh battery, at least in theory, could provide 11kW for an hour, or 1kW for 11 hours. In the real world, expect a bit less because of inefficiencies and power losses.
Zero uses two motors in its bikes, their "75-5" which they use on the FX class of bikes, and their "Z-Force" motor for the S and DS class of bikes. On the bikes with smaller batteries, they do reduce the current supplied to the motor somewhat to protect the battery, which is why you'll see some differences in quoted power and torque available on the different models. The highest torque/power ratings I can find are 116 ft-lb of torque and 70 hp for the Z-Force as installed in the SR, and 78 ft-lb and 46 hp for the 75-5. That's a bunch of torque and adequate power for the respective bikes.
It may seem like the chargers are simple switching power supplies, and they are, but at these power levels things get pricey or reliability suffers (sometimes both). Zero's charging philosophy is one I like: The bikes are designed for slow (overnight) charging from the factory, with the option for installing a faster charger at additional expense. Zero's stock charger is a slow charger, around 1kW, suitable for overnight charging. Ride the bike during the day, plug it into a standard 115VAC outlet and charge it overnight. This works for the great majority of us, the great majority of the time. But faster chargers are available, which allow longer trips by providing for multiple charges per day, and a lot of us have installed them. Zero has a factory solution available that uses the "public charge station" standard (known as J1772) to charge at around 6kW, giving a ~2-3 hour charge time for the largest batteries (0-100% full charge). Other solutions are available -- Diginow has a system that uses TWO J1772 plugs to offer ~9kW charging, ~10kW if you use the stock charger as well.
Other manufacturers offer other solutions, but you expressed an interest in Zeros. Honestly the charging situation is a bit of a quagmire out there outside of the J1772 standard -- hopefully everything will shake out fairly soon, but it hasn't much yet.
Author
Topic: Zero S 11K curious (Read 1409 times)