Zero electric motorcycle

[Seeker]

I've been following youtuber Marc (Marc Travels, a young German guy) on his round the world trip on a Zero (he christened it Eve). I caught up with him as he was heading for the Netherlands to pick up the ferry for the UK.

He is patient, I'll give him that. Although he has had no problems finding chargers in the UK more than a few don't work and some (many) require an account to be able to use them. I thought you just paid with a card like with petrol.

The Zero is odd too (he bought it second hand). Whilst riding around Scotland it's had 3 software updates but it does odd things with the battery charge level.

When charging it says 100% full and may have taken 5kW/h but if he leaves it on the charger it absorbs a further 3 kW/h. When is 100% not 100%?

When he's riding he discovered that the bike will slow when the charge/mileage indicates 0% / 0 miles but if he switches off and waits it will then indicate it now has regained some power - 30% in one case.

I know some lead/acid and NiCd batteries recover a bit of power if left, looks like Li batteries too (unless it's a Zero software bug).

He likes the bike (just not the snide comments he gets in the comments section).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1bxPV_4M4c&list=PL_5-FeRUB-_TuKaHVLXtKa7E2n5NiMV5w&index=3

[garynortheast]

I've just spent the last hour and a half catching up with Marc's adventures. It's excellent viewing. Shame about some of the narrow minded knobheads making stupid comments.

Really need to stop for a while and go and wash up the pile of dishes in the kitchen!

[Luckypants]

I've started watching him too, sometime before Christmas. The problem with charging has lead to him getting a new battery under warranty. However, 100% charge is not always 100% as an EV battery PACK is made up of many battery cells. When a cell in a pack hits 100%, the BMS (battery management system) might show 100% SoC but can continue to charge the remaining cells up to the same level in order to balance the charge in all the cells. An extra 3kWh seems a lot in such a small pack.

His little jaunt through Wales came close to my house on routes I recognised so it was especially interesting.

Using chargers in the UK often need an RFID card or a web account but newer ones should have a contactless payment option per government guidance from last year. It is not likely that AC chargers will have a contactless payment option due to cost and as the Zero is AC charge only he'll be stuck with RFID cards. This is the same in Europe too. I have an Octopus Electroverse card which will act as an RFID card on many charging networks so helps keep the wallet slimmer.

[garynortheast]

Well, I have to say I am finding Marc's Travels very entertaining and interesting. I'm now up to the "Electric Motorcycles NOT ALLOWED" video. Great viewing.

[ethariel]

Additionally Zero charge you extra to 'Software Unlock' the full capacity of a battery...or the full acceleration or the top speed.

Pay 23k for a bike and then have to pay another to get the full works turned on in software - no changes to the bike just pay us another 3-6k and we will turn on bits for you?

Had a lot of interest in them till I read up on the Cypher3 software, just consider it a 'micro-translction - well mega-transaction) ripoff now.

[garynortheast]

Seems to be a pretty standard thing on a number of electric vehicles beyond the outright utility types.
Marc seems happy with his Zero, especially since they changed the battery under warranty for him. Not bad considering the bike was 2nd hand when he bought it anyway.

[Sir Trev]

Sounds a hit like BMW wanting to charge a subscription for some features and KTM letting you have "demo mode" for the first 1k miles or so before you have to pay for some of the electronic features you want to keep.