Today, for the first time and at 2010 miles, I was "hit by the glitch". I was riding on level ground at 45 mph, with light throttle, in Sport mode, in sunny and dry 55 degree weather, I was still on the first bar of the fuel gauge and there was no source of electrical interference visible anywhere in the vicinity. The motor suddenly started vibrating like it was out of sync and the power dropped about in half but did not cut out completely. I managed to get off the roadway at an intersecting driveway, turned the ignition off and then back on and was able to continue on my way for another 20 miles, which included some freeway travel, without any more problems.
My bike is completely bone-stock, I follow all of the instructions in the owner's manual, the motor has never been anywhere near getting too hot and when freeway riding I usually stick to around 60 mph. I have never ridden in the rain and high temperatures around here are typically in the 60's. I doubt you could find anyone riding their 2012 Zero S any easier than me, plus I just had the recall performed on the BMS board.
My guess is that a sensor or a transistor is failing somewhere. I had a similar problem with a 1983 Kawasaki GPz 305. Kawasaki located the ignition unit black box directly on top of the cylinder head and the heat apparently cooked a thermistor in the device (according to my electrical analysis). I bought a new one for $150 (a lot of money in those days) and it too failed after another 8K miles for the same reason. I have also had all sorts of problems with motorcycle voltage regulators failing. Plus, both of my GPR-S bikes expired when transistors in their BMS boards melted. Motorcycles are really tough on electrical components, especially when they are not specifically designed for use in the type of environment experienced by a motorcycle. Mil-spec components would likely work really well, but then who can afford that stuff other than the government buying them with our taxes?
