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[Exile714]

Hello everyone, I've been meaning to register but lurking as a guest for a while. I guess now is the time...

My... former... motorcycle: 2014 Zero SR. Bought it used a few months ago and loved every minute of riding it until the very end.

So today I was riding home from work, commute was going well, when suddenly it felt like my rear brakes kicked on hard and the bike made a huge shudder. I pulled over to the side of the road as the bike ground to a halt. I waited a few minutes trying to figure out what could have gone wrong. Tires looked fine, brakes looked normal. After learning that a tow wouldn't be available for two hours, I pushed the bike up to a fast food parking lot (only a mile or two from my house) and waited. I could have pushed the bike the rest of the 1-2 miles home, but it was harder to push than before.

Once I got it home, I learned that there was once a recall on Zero SRs from when mine was made (February 2014). Ok, fine, emailed Zero because their customer service office was closed. Figured I'd deal with it in the morning. Bummed, I went about the rest of my evening.

Then about an hour ago, my smoke alarm started going off. The one right next to my garage... Opened the garage and got bombarded with thick, black smoke. Opened the garage door and ran outside to find my poor Zero in six-foot flames in the corner of my garage. Panicked, yelled for my wife to grab the fire extinguisher while I ran for the hose. Doused the thing until the flames died, then kept dousing it for half an hour. Called the fire department, they said there was nothing they could do at this point. No visible damage in the garage, maybe water damage, we'll see in the morning. The battery is still sparking, but it's in the driveway and I'm watching it like a hawk (might not sleep tonight).

So that's my story and why I felt compelled to post. Thanks for letting me vent while I wait for my poor little buddy to spark up again before I hose it down.

Anyone have an idea about what I should do next?

[Exile714]

Took a picture while waiting for it to cool enough to wheel into the driveway. I'll take more tomorrow, my neighbors are probably just now getting back to sleep and I don't want to freak anyone out by using a flash.

[RG2019]

Hi,

That sucks!
My 2017 SR went up in flames 2 months again, while driving.
Do you have a good insurance?

[Exile714]

Insurance? Not for the motorcycle, no. Basic collision, lots of medical/personal injury, enough to cover damage I could cause to others. But I bought this one used and figured, if I crash, it's gone.

I never really considered it might spontaneously combust... an oversight, I see that now.

I was planning to ride this one for a year or two then upgrade to an SR/F or something like that. I bought this one for $5k, figured it might sell for $3k, and I'd be out very little for two years of learning how to ride an electric. Now I'm out $5k. I can handle the loss, but I'd hope Zero will at least take the bike back and inspect it to find out what went wrong both in the initial failure and the subsequent fire.

But I won't hold my breath about that happening. We'll see.

[RG2019]

Ah, OK. I understand. For 5k motorcycle a basic insurance would by my choice also.
Mine Zero cost me 15k and I have an all risk insurance.

Zero has no interest in investigating my bike...
My insurance did pay for all the damage.

[RG2019]

My bike

[valnar]

Wait...wot?  These things can spontaneously combust?!

[RG2019]

Yes, that is indeed possible. The fire department put out the fire.
A specialized company put my bike in an immersion tank for 5 days because of the risk of spontaneous combustion.
Zero Motorcycle has no interested in any information of my bike or the fire.
No more Zero Motorcycle for me...

[valnar]

Yes, that is indeed possible. The fire department put out the fire.
A specialized company put my bike in an immersion tank for 5 days because of the risk of spontaneous combustion.
Zero Motorcycle has no interested in any information of my bike or the fire.
No more Zero Motorcycle for me...

What year was your motorcycle?  What years are all these motorcycles that blow up?

[RG2019]

an 2017 SR

[Richard230]

The recall of Zero motorcycles due to catching fire while charging was only for 2012 models. This is the first I have heard about the later models catching fire spontaneously.  Zero should certainly be notified of any such occurrence along with the appropriate government agency (such as the NTSA in the U.S.) in the country where you reside.  The possibility of their motorcycles catching fire spontaneously is something extremely serious and should be investigated and addressed by Zero.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

The roadside failure sounds like a controller failure. What it led to isn't clear.

There's a lot of missing context from this post, so it's hard to make any assessments. Your used bike, for example, may have never had motor commissioning maintenance performed, which might mean the torque was wildly misapplied and contributed to an overload. Or it may have had controller charging lugs installed improperly which could overheat the terminal bolts and lead to a fire.

It'll help to know on a basic level whether the bike was plugged in when you left it sitting overnight before the fire.

Aside: "Zero has no interest" comments tend to be self-serving, I've learned. Zero definitely has shown interest in such things, almost to an excessive degree, and seems to only make a ruling to be conservative when it determines that the owner is covering something up.

[Exile714]

Ok, more context. My brain is still a little fried, but I’m putting the pieces back together.

First, the recall I was talking about is what I think happened to to motor. Apparently some 2014s have a problem where the stator comes in contact with the rotor at high RPM (sounds weird, don’t think about electrics having RPM, but it’s an internal thing). If this bike was recalled, the guy who sold it to me never mentioned it and I didn’t really think to look. I registered it in CA, the VIN didn’t have any issues reported, so I figured I was in the clear. I did have the bike looked at for things like tires/brakes/shocks, but the shop didn’t know anything about the motor.

As for the fire. No, it wasn’t plugged in. When it died I was at about 40% battery.

As for Zero’s response? I called them this morning and the rep seemed genuinely concerned at the situation. She said she would talk to management and get back to me. So far I’m satisfied with their response.

Overall I’m just glad I didn’t 1) die on the highway, and 2) die in a fire. I guess I’m pretty lucky...

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Yes, that's a very good outcome, honestly, that you didn't get injured or damage your house in the process. (And I realized I jumped into technical assessment rather rudely, and will try to dial that back. Sorry.)

Maybe find out what dealer the owner used and check about maintenance records just in case.

The hard time you had pushing the bike is certainly notable. It could indicate a seized bearing that then spiked heat in the controller and elsewhere.

Catching fire while unplugged and parked/off does make the set of possible causes a little easier to check, but an expert in fire forensics might be able to tell best.

For what it's worth, there's renters/homeowners insurance claims worth making, at least, if you have good policies there.

[RG2019]

The possibility of their motorcycles catching fire spontaneously is something extremely serious and should be investigated and addressed by Zero.

That is what i though. I live in the Netherlands. My Zero dealer and Zero Netherlands, the importer for whole europe, are known with my bike catch on fire but did no investigation or contacted me for information.

Zero HQ for europe is a 45 minute drive from where I live! Should be a easy one....