ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Scubadiver1959 on May 01, 2021, 01:50:05 AM
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Who here has the most miles on their E-motorcycle?
And who has had to replace their batteries because of that mileage?
Curious to know after buying my 2021 SR/S yesterday...
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You should probably ask ElectricTerry but he's not on here often anymore. More likely to find him on Facebook...
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I just threw this out there to get an idea how many people there were with high mileage on their bikes.
I bought my Zero for commuting to and from work, 52mi round trip, on the I-95 Express Lanes running out of Washington, D.C. I drive the corridor solo (in my cars and trucks) partly due to the traffic in the area, but mostly my disdain for slow drivers, backups from weekend travel, and weather--NoVA drivers don't know how to drive in any kind of inclement weather. It is also getting a bit too expensive to be driving alone in a four-wheel vehicle--it could run up to $40+ going south out of D.C. on heavy traffic days--so the bike will be a most welcome relief.
I will probably take a few trips out into the wilderness, and now that I have the PlugShare and Tesla SuperCharger apps, it will make it a bit less nail-biting when wandering away from home and my home charging umbilical cord.
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Same reason I bought mine. Pre-pandemic I had a 34 mile round trip commute, nearly all highway. In 2019 my office installed Chargepoint charging stations in our parking lot so I was able to ride at lunch time and take the LONG way home if I wanted. I took my bike home in October of 2018 (Brand new "S" model, not a demo). As of today I have 18,544 miles on it.
In 2019 shortly after my office installed the charging stations, I added the Charge Tank. Last summer, with all of the J1772 stations around here, I managed a couple of 200+ mile days on the weekend exploring where I live (since I couldn't travel out of State or anywhere else for that matter). This year I bought a TeslaTap mini so I could charge up at Tesla Destination (NOT Supercharger) stations. There are places around here where there are far more of them than J1772 stations. This summer I hope to put a lot more miles on it.
Even with all the weekend riding though, I still put more miles on more quickly with my daily commutes because that was five days a week, not just Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully we'll be allowed to return to our offices in a month or two.
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I have 6K on a 2014. But I only started riding in the fall of 2019, I have no idea what my bike was doing for the first five years of its life.
There is a 2013 over in for-sale-trade on its second battery (the first was warranteed) with 40K on the current battery and 40K on the first battery. And on discord there was a 2014+ (I don't know what year) with 117K miles on it.
You're going to hear more about battery swaps here because people who have problems are more likely to visit the forum than people without them ^-^
-Crissa
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Early on, Zero required owners to keep the bike plugged in any time that it wasn't being ridden under penalty of losing warranty if not followed.
They Discovered that this was not the best option and now follow more conventional wisdom for state of charge. I have a 2013 5.7 FX that still
has the original batteries. Originally, it would charge to 95% and with a little coaxing would hit 100%. It still hits 95% today, but, drops to 91%
after being taken off of the charger and left for a bit. Once it settles in, it doesn't really drop any further.
The cell balance was originally well under 10 MV. MUCH greater than that now. I didn't ride it for a while and am now seeing if I can get it to
behave a bit more like before. Range seems to be down quite a bit. My 2016 SR has the original battery and still maintains 3~5 MV Cell Balance.
My 2014 S had been left uncharged for who knows how long, so, battery was toast. it had a new 14.4 battery installed in mid 2019 and still works perfectly.
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Who here has the most miles on their E-motorcycle?
And who has had to replace their batteries because of that mileage?
Curious to know after buying my 2021 SR/S yesterday...
Expect the battery to last a very long time, unless it fails in warranty as it did on my DS. And that is good news, because it now has a 7.2 KWH battery for free, it had a 6.5 KWH battery when new. When it started to show issues, the range was less than 50% and the charging to full was twice as fast as well. Much like a new 3KWH battery would be. But the change was very fast. In a few hundred miles from 100% capacity to less than 50% range.
I have the same miles on my SR with no hint of any battery issues. But the norm is for the larger batteries to last longer when used on the same load.
I don't hear of any batteries failing after the warranty period. Just the normal expected range reduction, which is quite slow, compared to what happened to my DS.
-Don- Reno, NV
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My daughter's 2014 S with PT was having a problem a few years ago with not wanting to charge to 100% SOC. Then it started stopping the charge lower and lower until if finally would stop at 86%. That bike was always kept plugged in for 4 years until the charger was replaced with a new one. However, with the charger replaced, the SOC now stops at 100% and the range and performance seems to be about the same as it was when new. If the 7-year old battery pack has degraded it isn't obvious.
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5K miles on my 2021 Energica EsseEsse9+
No battery issues at all - no apparent loss of capacity - but, then again, I'm not paying that close of attention.
I use both DC fast charger and my Lvl2 charger at my house.
I primarily charge to 80%. Additionally, as per the manual, I charge to 100% every two weeks and from LMP to 100% every 10 to 20 charges.
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Early on, Zero required owners to keep the bike plugged in any time that it wasn't being ridden under penalty of losing warranty if not followed.
They Discovered that this was not the best option and now follow more conventional wisdom for state of charge. I have a 2013 5.7 FX that still
has the original batteries. Originally, it would charge to 95% and with a little coaxing would hit 100%. It still hits 95% today, but, drops to 91%
after being taken off of the charger and left for a bit. Once it settles in, it doesn't really drop any further.
The cell balance was originally well under 10 MV. MUCH greater than that now. I didn't ride it for a while and am now seeing if I can get it to
behave a bit more like before. Range seems to be down quite a bit. My 2016 SR has the original battery and still maintains 3~5 MV Cell Balance.
My 2014 S had been left uncharged for who knows how long, so, battery was toast. it had a new 14.4 battery installed in mid 2019 and still works perfectly.
I thought the difference was the battery technology. AFAIK, the older batteries are still to be charged to 100SOC and left fully charged when not being used.
I think that changed in year 2016 for the newer batteries ONLY, to be stored at around 60% SOC.
-Don- Auburn, CA
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No, it was 2013 and newer, Don.
https://www.zeromotorcycles.com/owner-resources/charging-recommendations/
-Crissa
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No, it was 2013 and newer, Don.
https://www.zeromotorcycles.com/owner-resources/charging-recommendations/ (https://www.zeromotorcycles.com/owner-resources/charging-recommendations/)
-Crissa
OIC. Perhaps it was first reported in 2016 and that was the date I was thinking. I know there was quite a bit of time that passed before Zero realized the new batteries should be stored differently.
-Don- Auburn, CA
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I remember those discussions. It's not just Zero's batteries but just about any lithium rechargeable. I no longer keep my cellphone in the charger when I'm not using it; only when it actually needs to be recharged. After three years, it still lasts nearly the entire day in use as my navigator and music source on the bike. Same with my laptop... I no longer leave it on the charger constantly and the battery lasts a whole lot longer now too. In fact, I have a brand new battery that I only charge up and use when I'm going to be away from home. When I'm home, I use my old battery that only lasts a few minutes off of the charger instead.
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I remember those discussions. It's not just Zero's batteries but just about any lithium rechargeable.
Perhaps only applies to modern batteries made over the last 8 or so years. Not sure what the differences are with the older cells or whatever.
-Don- Auburn, CA
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It applies to any lithium batteries made in the last twenty years. There hasn't been ones with 'memory effect' in ages.
Nickel cadmium you leave uncharged and NiMH you leave fully charged, because of their chemistries.
-Crissa
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Going back even farther, you want to keep lead/acid batteries fully charged too.
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Going back even farther, you want to keep lead/acid batteries fully charged too.
Lead acid batteries sulfate when they're at a high voltage as well as low, so they should be cycled/drained.
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I thought they sulfated if the voltage dropped too low. Overcharging would warp the plates and short out the battery (or boil off the acid). In any event, I use a smart charger (battery tender) that monitors the state of charge and keeps it at the proper level. It's a necessity these days considering how little I've been riding them since the pandemic hit. Since most of my riding has been local there's been no reason to use the ICE bikes; I've been riding the Zero almost exclusively.
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I was right: Sulfation occurs if the battery is UNDERcharged, not overcharged.
https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/sulfation_and_how_to_prevent_it
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Holding a constant voltage still causes the battery to sulfate.
https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/battery-articles/secret-workings-of-a-lead-acid-battery.html
"So, I can just set it and forget it, right? Well, not exactly. For one thing, you need to monitor the battery occasionally for correct fluid level (unless you own a sealed battery). Another problem is that of exercising the battery. Even if held at 13 volts, the unwavering voltage will allow the battery to eventually begin to sulfate. With most of these units, I recommend that you unplug the charger at least once every 60 days during seasonal storage. Allow the battery to rest for a couple of days, and then plug the charger in again."
The good thing is that some of the fancier 5 stage chargers already take this into account, and don't hold the voltage constantly by allowing it to discharge a bit occasionally
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Yeah, lithium batteries are really the only ones you can just leave sitting around for long periods (relatively). Even though they hate the cold, they recover from cold more completely than other batteries, too.
Just don't let them discharge to nothing.
-Crissa
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Bike was purchased brand new in October 2018. Not too shabby for two and a half years.