ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ciaphas on December 24, 2015, 11:17:36 PM
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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!
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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
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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.
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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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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!
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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.
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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.)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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!
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You can get a small 2-3W solar panel and run a 12V computer fan with it, plenty of sun in Las Vegas.
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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.
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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 (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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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!
That'd be great if you could park it in shade next to the bicycles; surely they'd be okay with you parking next to the bicycles if you explained why you wanted to do it? Our carpark shed at work is there for bicycles and motorbikes.
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On average, there are ONLY about 60 days of 100 plus temperatures. 86 days over 90. The sun beating on an inanimate object for hours makes it MUCH hotter.
I roll my Electric Focus out of the garage in 50 degree weather, about an hour before I leave for work. By the time I get in, the temperature is
closer to 70. In the summer, I go from MY garage, to the garage at work. The Garage is open on two or three sides ( depending upon which level ) so, air flows through all day, and,
no sun ever hits the car. When I get into the car at around 8 p.m., the outside temperature shows around 108 degrees. After a mile or so, the temperature is
generally closer to 115. This is pretty much a daily occurrence from June until October, with several days of rain in August. You may live in
an area that has "natural" greenery. No such luck in Vegas. The sun beats down on concrete and asphalt that absorbs and radiates the
heat for hours after the sun goes down. I would go out to a car parked in our garage at 4 in the morning to pull it around, and, it would
still show outside temperature over 110 degrees. Chrome door handles and seat belt clasps that are chrome ( older cars ) are so hot that
they will cause blisters if you not careful on how you are touch them. A fan blowing all day on something in direct sun would do absolutely no good.
That same fan, blowing though a bike cover or "tent" would probably help. Might be better to have it on the outbound side sucking air through
rather than blowing into, to lessen the possibility of added heat from the fan motor. In many areas that are hot during the day, it cools off at night.
This is not the case in Vegas during the summer. There are days where it barely gets below 100 at night, then, starts from that point upwards.
Associated Press
Wednesday, July 1, 2015 | 10:34 a.m.
Sun weather coverage
Las Vegas weather conditions and forecast
June in Las Vegas was officially the hottest ever.
The National Weather Service said the average June temperature recorded at McCarran International Airport was 91.9 degrees, breaking the previous record of 91.5 in 2013.
More than half of last month was at or above 105 degrees. A meteorologist said June 13 through June 30 brought 18 consecutive days of temperatures in that range.
There's never been that many in a row or in total in a June month. In 1961, there was a streak of 12 days straight and in 1985, there were 17 total.
And halfway through this decade, there are now three June months in the top seven hottest ever recorded. The others were in June of 2012 and 2013.
Above normal temperatures are also expected for July.
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Yeah, I love living here in Vegas, on the whole, but the summers are an arsehole and a half, aren't they KrazyEd?
Thank you all for the great information. I think I'll be okay not worrying about it too much until the summer actually arrives again. Looking forward to my test drive and potential purchase tomorrow :)
That'd be great if you could park it in shade next to the bicycles; surely they'd be okay with you parking next to the bicycles if you explained why you wanted to do it? Our carpark shed at work is there for bicycles and motorbikes.
I guess I can ask if it turns out to be a problem. Worst they can do is say no, after all!
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I was raised here, so, have never had to endure half a year of gloom. All I can say is that I prefer heat to cold.
If I am cold, I put on enough clothing that I look like the Michelin man, and, am STILL COLD. If I am hot,
I can pour a glass of water on myself and I am cooled off in seconds. I tell people that it isn't TOO bad living
here, just stay inside.
FROM JUNE THROUGH OCTOBER.
LOL
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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!
I used to park my CR500 supermoto on bicycle racks, and chain/lock it to them too.
I only caught grief about it once, after years of doing it. I just refused to shop there anymore.
If I was ever questioned about it, I just pointed out its light enough someone could just pickup, throw in a truck and steal, so Im locking it up.
not far from the truth.... I just didnt point out that EVERY motorcycle can be picked up, even goldwings. lol
I also didnt have a kickstand for awhile, so it helped to have something to lean on.
After awhile, you get used to parking wherever you can lean it on things....
http://fastgm.com/travis/CR500/09-03-08_1242_halfsize.JPG (http://fastgm.com/travis/CR500/09-03-08_1242_halfsize.JPG)
http://fastgm.com/travis/CR500/09-14-08_1615.jpg (http://fastgm.com/travis/CR500/09-14-08_1615.jpg)
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I noticed insults and attacks are now happening on EVF which wasnt an occurrence before, which made this a very enjoyable forum. Let remember every one has a right to say their opinion and you have right to disagree. Let keep it polite and be adults.
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I noticed insults and attacks are now happening on EVF which wasnt an occurrence before, which made this a very enjoyable forum. Let remember every one has a right to say their opinion and you have right to disagree. Let keep it polite and be adults.
Did you intend to post this in the electric motors are too simple thread?
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