Brammo Owners Forum
General => Off Topic => Topic started by: craigq on March 09, 2012, 04:25:44 PM
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I put a deposit down on a Zero XU today. The original Enertia Plus price would've made this a no-brainer for a decision, but with the announced price increase and the no-timeline for Canadian release I decided on the XU for commuting duties. If you guys don't mind I'm still hanging around, I change bikes quite frequently and want to stay apprised of Brammo developments and this place rocks for that (along with being very e-bike friendly).
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Congratulations, Craig. Yes, please feel welcome to stick around.
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Congrats on the new bike : )
Again, I would be interested to see your impressions once you've had some time to get used to the bike.
After discussing with facility folk here, there's no way to charge an EV in our campus parking lot. A removable battery pack might be a bit to hoof indoors, but it seems like one way to sidestep the "can't charge your vehicles at work" problem.
(they have no problems for example with running a 300w space heater all day long in the winter.. so I can only assume it's more of a lack of planning for lot plug service)
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Speaking of Zeros, yesterday I participated in a photo shoot for City Bike magazine. They will be doing a feature article in their April issue on electric motorcycles (I think they will be concentrating on the Zero S as it is a new model). But some of the photos included my red Zero S, a black Zero S press bike and a black Enertia (which I think probably came from Scuderia West's test "fleet"). After the professional photographer finished taking his photos, I took one for myself. :)
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I saw something about that on Brammo's FB feed. Wonder if that's an Enertia Plus.. did you try to smuggle it off to Gavin? : )
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Thanks guys. I'll post impressions, similar to how Richard did for his S.
Is the only real way to measure fuel efficiency via a Kill-a-watt while charging? I've kept track of all of my motorcycles' fuel economy and it would be nice to do it for the XU.
I found a solution for the (quite) limited range of the XU (with respect to my commute distance) that should work out nicely. Currently for Canadians there's a $500 voucher applicable towards the purchase of accessories, my solution involves purchasing the "quick charge" option and either getting back into reading or increasing my video gaming ;D
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Speaking of Zeros, yesterday I participated in a photo shoot for City Bike magazine.
That is really cool. It sounds some good press for electric motorcycles.
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Here is another photo after the LRV left. :)
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Guess what showed up today...
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5320/6945031770_cc302e7afd.jpg)
and the rest of it...
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7280/7091094645_e5bffa4e2a_z.jpg)
Only one problem, the local MTO bureau thinks that Ontario does not permit the registration of any electric motorcycles. I know for a fact that other region's MTO offices register them, so hopefully this gets sorted out...
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Nice...
Congrats and safe riding :)
G
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Nice!
Hopefully you can get the registration sorted out quickly. I was really surprised at how easy the registration was here in Alabama, the lady took down the bike information, went outside to verify VIN against the frame, and came back in and handed me the plate.
I'll be interested to hear how easy the battery is to remove and charge. I could almost make the XU work in my daily ride. Today's one of my longest rides.
* 12 miles to work (3 hours rest)
* 17 miles to lunch and back (6 hours rest)
* 15 miles to a friend's house for tv and dinner (3 hours rest)
* 24 miles to home
On the fixed battery Zero S, I don't have access to charge points at the work parking lot. My only opportunity to charge will be at the friend's house, which I may or may not use depending on how much charge I have when I get there. (would like to take the Zero down to near-empty, but would like to not walk : )
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Gaah, the frickin' licensing bureaus. The last step between being stationary and mobile, legally-speaking. Mine was pretty straightforward, for the most part, but I did notice that my recent renewal form had "Gas" pre-printed on the "Fuel Type" box, even though it wasn't on my original registration.
Congrats on your new bike!
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Sweet bike Craig! I dig the swapable battery on the Zero XU... one battery at work, one in the bike... Swap upon arrival, and always charge on the companies dime, or have twice the range when needed.
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Unless you plan on leaving immediately from work, no need to keep two batteries.. just bring the bike battery in to charge. 2-3 hours or so and you're back at full.
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Update: I should find out in about 5-10 business days if the bike can be registered in the province of Ontario... more to follow when available...
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Last update in the registration process: notified today by the MTO that I can register the bike. Got the paperwork and plates.
Went for a 33km ride around the neighbourhood. I think I have an idea of how you all feel now.
Initial impressions:
As already reported, ECO vs SPORT (or on my XU I vs II) provides quite the difference in riding experience, both in acceleration and regen braking. In ECO the regen feels a lot like engine braking on a small displacement 4T; it's barely noticeable in SPORT mode. In ECO mode if one times it correctly one can use minimal brakes to come to a stop (applying a little bit of pressure to at least get the brake light activated). The only issue is in ECO mode you really have to pay attention (more so than normal on a motorcycle) to traffic patterns and almost anticipating traffic light changes.
It gets up to 60 & 80KPH quickly enough that commuting shouldn't be a problem. The XU is light and flickable, the front brake seemed spongy/squishy at the beginning but it seems to be getting better. Rear brake takes a while to bite, I like using it for low-speed parking lot speeds so I'll have to see if I can adjust that. The seat height is about 5.5" shorter than my WRR, so that took some time for adjustment. I only reached for the non-existant clutch and gear shifter once, while coming to a stop ;D
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Nice...Congrats.
And ride safe.
:)
gavin
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Yet another update: I did not receive the quick charge harness with the quick charge option to allow two inputs into the battery pack from two chargers, so I've been putting off riding the XU to work. My plan was to quick charge at an intermediate location on the return portion of my commute. Zero is working out where it is and getting it shipped to me. Today I decided to do it anyways, and I was resigned to the fact that I might have to "slow charge" at the intermediate point.
When I arrived at work there was 5 bars showing on the "fuel gauge", and I thought "maybe I'll make it home" :). The ride in was at about 13*C.
When I turned on the bike in the afternoon, temperature now 28*C, there were 6 bars showing on the gauge. I managed about 1.7 KM before the gauge dropped back down to 5 bars. Then I managed to make it home, the last 1 KM or so with the two bars flashing warning. The commute home was slower, traffic congestion is a bit higher, so I'm guessing that's a good thing :D
Google Maps shows the round-trip as 46.6 KM, the XU odometer shows it as 48.6 KM, either way I got home ;D Hopefully the battery pack is okay with the two bars flashing. I also have to verify with a GPS about the distance, and see about reconfiguring the wheel diameter setting on the instrument cluster to try to get the odometer a bit more accurate (protomech posted the cluster manual, thanks!).
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The battery pack is fine. The BMS will disable the battery pack before you can discharge it to an unsafe voltage (note that when and if it does so, you need to get it on a charger STAT .. < 24 hours ideally).
The S speedometer and odometer are about 4% optimistic. Sounds like the XU is the same.
Glad you made it. Is charging the battery at work an option? Or is that what the second offboard charger is for?
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That's cool that you pushed through your comfort zone. (and that everything turned out okay). :)
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Proto: Thanks for the info about the pack. Charging at work is not an option, I was planning to charge a bit on the ride home from work with the two chargers.
BF: You don't know how glad I am that it turned out ok! :D I had visions of myself pushing the bike along the side of the road or sidewalk :-[
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I have heard that the last "bar" on the Zero's gauge is invisible. Apparently, you can run the battery down to where no bars are showing and it still will do another 10 slow miles or so before the BMS cuts the fun and puts you in the doghouse.