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Mr. Analog, it sounds like your problems are very similar to my 2018 S with Charge Tank. I haven’t figured it out. Coming up on the 8k mile maintenance and I’ll be asking them to look into it.

https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=10851.0

Already been covered, but I’ll say it too: chains are WAY more expensive (with sprockets), much higher maintenance (more cost), and lower lifespan if comparing ideal cases (so, even more cost). And a good chain breaker/riveter (which you want to avoid the service fee) is around 100$. And it’s still really easy to mess up the rivet type master links, and then you need to replace that, or your chain life will be even worse. Hopefully you already have a torque wrench

A poorly maintained chain CAN break, and when it does at speed, it’s going to be breaking everything on your bike that’s in it’s way.

I’ve only had motorcycles as personal vehicles since 2015, riding up to 25k miles a year. never had a problem with chains, but  I got the Zero BECAUSE of the low maintenance cost. A chain is way more reliable, but if you’re concern is cost, it’s a step backwards.

Quote from: angrygirafe on July 02, 2021, 02:45:19 AM

Level 1 charging was fine up until a few weeks ago, no problem. Level 2 has never worked well for me, even on 50F mornings. After charging 20-25% it shuts off. I assume there’s something wrong with the charge tank, and the summer  heat just makes it worse.

Yeah, you for sure have a charge tank problem. Does the station click off, or does it think the bike is still charging?


I mean off just like when you disconnect a J1772 adapter  that still has power.  A click that disengages the station, heard from the charger, not the bike.


IOw, is it shutting off the station or just no longer charging?



-Don-  USA Parkway, Patrick, NV (charging Xero DS)

It… sort of shuts the station off? It doesn’t shut off the station immediately. You’ll hear the station click off, and them click back on a few seconds later. The station might show charging at less than 100w, and a few seconds later it clicks off again. It’ll do that cycle for a few minutes and then the station goes into standby and the bike dash goes blank.

I sat with it and monitored it through the app for an attempted charge back in march. 60F. The battery charged at up to 56amps, but battery temp never exceeded 84F according to the app. It still shut off after almost 30 mins and on 64% SOC.

I figured it’s a problem with the charge tank, but I hate going to dealers for service. Took my Yamaha in for standard maintenance last November and it still doesn’t work after they did… whatever it is they do.

I live in Phoenix. The heat makes charging a PAIN.I bought my 2018 S 13.0 with a Charge Tank, used, back in January. The Charge Tank has NEVER worked well, the best I’ve ever gotten out of it is 25%. Right now I get 5-10% SOC increase if it doesn’t just shut off after 5 minutes. I have a 15 mile commute, 13 of it interstate, and I’m usually going 80-90mph. I get a little bit of charge at work, and am usually around 60% SOC when I get home. I leave the garage door cracked for ventilation and let the bike cool off for a few hours, but it’s often still around 100F ambient temperature when I plug it in around 9:30pm. I’m happy  if it’s back up to 90% in the morning. It rarely ever charges fully right now; the temp indicator is always flashing when I check on it in the morning.

For those curious about Phoenix, I lived here in 2009/2010 and loved it. Traffic was light and flowed well. Moved back home to Wyoming, then went to school in California, and came back to Phoenix 2 years ago. It is WAY different. Covid has lessened the traffic some, but I’d rather deal with Southern California traffic. The drivers i. cali are aggressive but predictable, and you can filter. Deivers here are just bad; super unpredictable, and I think we lead the nation in wrong way drivers and red light runners.

Man, I've had the complete opposite experience coming from a 2016 Yamaha FJ-09 to a 2018 Zero S. I struggle to make it 100 miles on the FJ without a break for... areas that go numb. The Zero S has a fantastic seat by comparison. I'm just never going to get a 100 miles worth of battery out of it lol. But compared to the FJ, which I've done 14 hour days on, I could go longer on the Zero S.

Hey y'all.

Been riding ICE bikes as my only personal form of transportation since 2015, and finally got sick of all the maintenance. After a routine service turned my beloved Yamaha FJ09 into a potato, I went on the hunt for a Zero, and found a 2018 S ZF13 with a Charge Tank and 1200 miles on the clock. The thing is a hoot. I bought it end of January, and I've put about 800 miles on it since, and the miles have all been trouble free. Charging from a 115V/20A circuit has worked perfectly too, and since the bike has enough range to support my commute round trip, this is a good thing.

I had been hoping to take advantage of the Level II chargers at work, which I can have two hours free on, and since I'm usually at about 40% capacity after a round trip, that's plenty of time for me to charge at work and not at home. BUT, I have never had a successful quick charge session with the battery below 70%. It usually stops charging between 20 and 30 minutes, but has gone as long as 45 minutes without trouble. At that point, charging shuts down, and I'm usually unable to start again right away. It will just cycle the charger on and off rapidly, or do nothing at all. Sometimes if I let it rest for 10-20 minutes, and I can start again, but it will shut off in that 20-30 minutes, sometimes less. The other day after getting a 20 some minute charge, I was trying to get it to start again, and I got a check engine light, but no error codes. So I gave up, and left it alone. During my ride home the light was still on, but there was no performance degradation, it popped up to 90mph on the freeway no problem.

When I got home, I was able to charge it off my normal outlet overnight to 100%. The check engine light was still on when I left, but turned off within a minute, and hasn't come back since. Still no error codes (aside from the kickstand and killswitch when applicable).

So, I suspect the Charge Tank. I can connect to the App, but it doesn't show the current version of firmware, and give a pop up that the download file is corrupted and to try again. It has done this since I bought it. I got the logs from the bike, and found a State Machine Charge Error, but some research brought up one thread here for a different charging problem, and that person had error codes to go with it.

Browsing through the Unofficial Manual (which is awesome), I see I should be able to pop off a cover and reset both the BMS and MBB. My question is, does this sound like a good idea? I know the owners manual recommends a few cases where the BMS should be reset, but doesn't offer additional instruction on how or to what state it is reset.

If I can avoid the dealer until the 8000 mile check in, I'd like too. Dealer service techs have done more cumulative damage to my bikes than I have, and I'm a disaster with a wrench.  So I have... reservations... about their abilities, competencies, and cares.

I've emailed Zero about the problem, Tuesday, I think, but haven't heard anything back yet. Haven't heard about the Warranty transfer yet either, but that was about a week ago I submitted it.

For a little background, I live in Phoenix, and have two dealers in range, both owned by the same company. I'm a electrical engineer of two years, but I work in utility substation design. I have a little experience from school with designing and building solar energy storage, so if you want to get technical on me about the BMS and controller, I might understand a little bit, but not a ton.

Some pictures attached if it's helpful