Mileage update....

[Brammofan]

Hey proto - I'll get you some logs. I'm out of town right now but will be back next Tuesday. I'll probably need a reminder.

[Gavin]

Well I just finished a "cycle". Charged on Monday and haven't charged since...all "local" rides. mostly commutes to work. kinda city, kinda suburban. mostly at 35-45 mph.

86 miles...1% left. I don't really want to drive her till she stops....A) I could be pushing the bike home...B) not sure if it is good for the bike.

I'm pretty sure I could have got 100 miles if I did true city driving of around 25 mph.

But I did get over the 80 miles listed by Brammo for city driving...and more than twice the legacy enertia (this type of driving usually got me about 37 miles on the old E). And I don't tend to ride slow.

So happy about that. And the battery decrease was linear the whole way from 100 to 1...which is nice. On the legacy the power decrease was linear from 100 to 40/35....then very irregular. With my commute riding I use just a bit more than 1 percent for a mile of driving. Makes it fairly easy to know how far you can go.

Right now I'm charging her overnight...then doing a 68 mile ride tomorrow. Should be tight. It has some parts at 35 mph, some at 55 mph and some at 50 mph uphill...followed by 13 miles of twisty roads up to Sandia Crest. Not sure the speed limit on that part...but I will be breaking it as much as I can Those twisties are FUN.

Over 5000 feet of climb...some pretty steep. The saving grace will be the increased regen on the Plus. Should give me back some storage on the 13 miles back down the mountain. At least I will finally find out if Regen adds enough to show up...
I figure if I can get to the top with 40% of the battery, then I should be fine getting home...basically all downhill on the way back. If it gets too tight, well I have tons of places to charge on the way home (subway, grocery store, coffee shop...etc etc...all have let me charge before).

If someone tells me what to do I will try and send some files next week.

On Sunday I might do another long ride...but it is 40 miles each way...much of it at 60 mph...and I know the bike won't do that roundtrip....

at the turn around spot i can charge...but I would have to charge for at least a couple of hours (probably more) and the turn around spot is a tavern...a couple of hours stop there would not be in my best interest

they do make a goooooood buffalo burger...

If I don't do the long sunday ride, i will do a highway test (how fast is the top speed---though I will likely find that out tomorrow on the mountain ride---how long before the fan kicks in---how many miles to 50% battery---how long before thermal cutback...etc etc...

Gavin

Still, 86 miles. I could charge on Sunday night...Commute all week (with a couple of side trips and errands thrown in), charge on Friday night and ride a bit both Saturday and Sunday and rinse and repeat. Not bad.

[FrankH]

At least I will finally find out if Regen adds enough to show up...

Hey Gavin, what's with the regen on the Enertia Plus? I was told it had no regen braking but since yours is a test machine, is that a sign of regen coming on the next version? Or was the distibutor mistaken? The flyer I have here also doesn't mention it.

Frank

[Gavin]

Well I haven't done any real testing yet on the regen...and I wasn't told anything about it by Brammo directly
....just like with the Legacy it kinda went... "here's a bike, have fun, only one key so don't lose it" ....all very déjà vu.

But the Plus, and this will be in my review coming in a week or two so you're getting a preview, has quite a bit of engine braking. The way it rides feels more like a motorcycle because of it. I kinda miss the gliding of the Legacy, but getting use to it...and I assume the engine braking is regen...but will know more coming down the mountain later today. If I gain battery charge on the 13 mile downhill, engine braking is also giving regen (like I assume)... If the battery doesn't, we'll then I will be mistaken about regen and confused about the engine braking.

Gavin

[Gavin]

Well went from home to top of Sandia Mountain and back home on one charge. 69.7 miles and 9% of the battery left. A lot of that was at 35 mph...but some at 50 and 55 too.

I will try and download the file for Proto. Took 60% of the battery getting to the top...31% to get back home.

Rode to work to do a couple of echoes....so charging now...but did 75.6 miles and have 2% of charge left when I get here....So far very happy with the range.

And the with the new batteries and the draw down of battery being so linear...well I feel very safe riding down to 2 percent...which I didn't on the Valance batteries.

Gavin

[Mithion]

Gavin,

I have been looking forward to each of these reports of yours, very cool stuff. Can you talk more about this engine braking and possible regen you may or may not have experienced please. Thanks so much.

[Gavin]

I am doing a small write up...will post it here and on my blog tomorrow...

I plan to do a more through review a week after that.

I have to do a bit of calculations (ie. make crap up in my head) to better understand the engine braking.

Coming down the mountain I had hoped to see the battery increase...that didn't happen...but I was going kinda fast and I didn't use much battery.

The engine braking has to do something...and I do think it gives some regen...I traveled 14 miles down the mountain and only used 5% of the battery...a range of 280 miles

Going up, 12 miles used 28%... A range of 43 miles.

The engine braking was a big surprise at first...I really got used to gliding...and still miss it for night riding...but it does make it feel more...well like a big boy bike...and it was GREAT for riding the mountain twisties.


Gavin

[Gavin]

Gavin,

I have been looking forward to each of these reports of yours, very cool stuff. Can you talk more about this engine braking and possible regen you may or may not have experienced please. Thanks so much.

Ok...So with the orginal Enertia when you let go of the throttle you would coast...no engine braking.

With the Enertia Plus, when you let go of the throttle you get a moderate amount of engine braking...you still coast, but your speed will decrease and you physically feel the bike slowing.

This engine braking adds to the bikes battery and will extend the range some.

I have notice that in my driving (city fast or suburban riding---35 to 45 mph is my normal speeds vs 25-35 for true city driving) I am getting over 80 miles per charge--around 85-88 mile per charge. I thought I would get about 70 miles...or a doubling of the Enertia Classic...but I am get a good 15 mile per charge more...Probably the Engine Braking...and possibly a few other improvements.

At true city speeds (which I never drive) I could see getting close to 100 miles per charge....easily.

A) it is nice to see the bike preforming up to and above the specs.
B) 85 miles per charge is great...I use to charge everyday as I wanted to make sure I had the range to do extra stuff...I'm only charging a couple of times a week so far (once on Monday, once on Friday night to have charge for the weekend). I did charge twice this weekend, but that is because I did a nice 70 mile ride up the mountain on Saturday).

Gavin

[EmpulseRider]

The Enertia plus has an updated version of the classic's motor. I think I recall Brammo saying something about the increased efficiency of the new motor.

[Gavin]

Perm 126 vs 120.

Slightly higher top speed...slightly better with heat...

Increased mileage could be a combo of motor and regen.

Gavin

[protomech]

Gavin - is there any chance you could post GPS routes for a section of a future trip? Keep it cropped to not reveal your home address, of course. Start / End battery %. I've used the runkeeper app on both android and ios to do this.

Interesting that the Enertia Plus is approaching or exceeding its EPA UDDS range rating.

At 35 mph the Zero S ZF9 should do around its UDDS 114 mile rating.

At 45 mph the Zero S ZF9 is around 83 miles.

[Gavin]

I hope to do a 50 mile ride along the Rio Grande this weekend...will use my runtastic program.

Gavin

[protomech]

60 degrees out when I left work. Went for a nice mountain ride.. saw my best miles/bar (10.5) and one of my worst (< 4 doing 70+ mph..)



7000 miles. You know what that means..

[EmpulseRider]

Wow! Your putting some miles on that machine. I was excited to start racking up the miles on my Empulse (when i get it) but then I realized something. I have a 6 month old that needs to be taken to daycare 5 days a week... the joys of parenting. Not sure if I can log 5000+ miles a year on two wheels like I used to.

[Gavin]

Had to stop on the way to PF Changs, dinner with the family for my eldest's 25th birthday, to take this photo...

Lots of 7's.

Gavin