Enertia Issues

[FreepZ]

There's a very enlightening post over at the Electric Motorcycle Forum:

2012 model Zero reliability issues and repairs

The problems that seem to be the most common were:

• Motor cut outs while riding normally. (Work around: turn the bike off, and on again. Sometimes several times. Fix: Uncertain at this time.)
• Motor cut outs due to rain. (Work around: wait for the BMS board to dry out. Fix: BMS board replaced with a waterproofed board.)

Other issues included:

• Turn signal failure (at 1500 miles)
• Rain induced temperature sensor failure (1700 miles)
• Belt snapped (6000 miles)
• Charger failed
• Mirror fell off (after two weeks)

Note that not all issues happened to all the bikes, (E.g. only one person reported a broken belt.)

In spite of these issues, the bike owners appear to be satisfied with their bikes. Zero have been replacing the broken parts, or getting the bike shipped to the factory. Sometimes they appear to be a bit slow to handle the case.

So the question for Enertia owners is:

What issues have you run into with the Enertia Classic?

[Brammofan]

I've had a couple service req'd messages, and when I contacted Brammo (BrammoJen, to be specific), she would have me send my recent logs (from the USB drive), and usually it was a "let's keep our eye on it, it's not serious unless is re-occurs" and it didn't re-occur.

The only "major" problem I had with it was when I left the key in the "on" position for (ahem) a few weeks and depleted the "pre-charge" (?) I think, and basically couldn't get the bike to do anything -- no LCD screen.  I contacted BrammoJen who talked me through some basic tasks, (e.g. "take off body panels, check in this area for a fuse, see if it's blown") and when it checked out fine, she came by the house and figured out what the problem was.  She showed me a little button near the forks, accessible only after taking off the body panels.  Held down that button for about 45 seconds and the little LED light next to it changed color. Plugged in, charged up (so nice to hear the familiar sound) and all was back to normal.  Note: this was a user-caused problem - not any sort of design or manufacturing issue.

Brammo has always been responsive to my requests for help or information - and by "responsive" I mean they have always gotten back to me after an email request within a few (never more than 6) hours.

[Gavin]

Issues:

The chain gets loose insanely fast. Fixed by going to an O-Chain...much much better. I hear O-Chain is standard from now on.

Twice I've had the bike shut down from a "voltage sag". Both times I was at about 3% battery and turning onto my street. Being so close to home, I usually give a little bit of throttle to zoom through the turn....and the bike shut down. Coast to the curb and restart and all is fine. Basically, when close to empty, no "blipping" the throttle

I've had a voltage warning, but no affect on the bike or riding, and, like Brammofan, was told to watch for it to reoccur...SoCalTech told me he would fly out and change the part if needed.

So no complaints about service. Nor the bike. And I imagine that the Plus and Empulse will be even more reliable as Brammo has years of data now.

Gavin

[ColoBrammo]

- I too have noticed the chain loosening problem and will definitely get a better quality chain when this one is worn out- which is soon.

- My USB data logging drive seems to have failed but Brammo is sending a new one.  This will throw the H73 code but it isn't a pressing issue.  In the mean time I have an off-the-shelf drive installed and it appears to be working fine.

- I had a really weird problem last spring after the bike had been sitting dormant for a long time.  Apparently it is not a good idea to leave the bike plugged in if it is not actively charging.  I went out to start up the bike to charge it (hadn't been charged for about 60 days, but plugged in the whole time) and it was completely dead; would not turn on in any mode.  I futzed with it for over an hour, checking fuses, etc... After a panic attack and posting to the forum, I went out the next day (had then been unplugged for 24+ hours) and it came alive, but threw a "Cell balancing" flag.  Left charging for several days and was right as rain after that, but pretty scary and inconvenient at the time.

- My Enertia (Classic) was billed as having a range of 40 miles.  The range displayed, with a top charge, has never exceeded 34 miles.  This is barely enough for me to make a round-trip to work with a little margin.  The longest round trip I've made is about 28 miles, and at that point it was down to ~10-15% battery. I imagine there must be 6 emergency/marketing miles in there.  At any rate, I am too chicken to actually run the bike down far enough to find out, and now I always charge the bike when I get to the office.  Going forward I will be very skeptical about all range projects from ANY electric vehicle, 2 or 4 wheels.  I'm not really complaining about the range; I was just disappointed when reality occurred.

Best, Steve
 

[Andy]

- I also am having major chain sagging issues at ~1,000 miles. I'm having a local shop install a 420 O-ring on my Enertia today

- I had the D4 service error twice. Fixed it the 1st time by inspecting the controller connections with Brammo help while one of their guys was in Boise. The 2nd time I pulled off the controller again and noticed a large amount of silicon gel on the largest connector from the controller to the motor. Using a Q-tip I removed some of the silicon gel that was getting inside the connector and possibly causing a connection issue (probable reason for the D4 error). Since I removed some of that silicon gel I've had no more D4 errors in 500 miles of riding. I wish I had taken pictures for everyone. Sorry.

Other than that I absolutely LOVE owning my Enertia. Riding an Enertia is a blast. I feel very lucky to own one (I too have test ridden a Zero DS and I definitely prefer the Enertia)

Happy EV'ing to all. -Andy

[werm_works]

I've had:

*My chain replaced 2 times from original, to RK to DID o-ring type which seems to be the best so far and quiet.

*My sprocket Replaced as an update

*My motor replaced because from day 1 I was having temp issues even if the motor is not hot, and the only easiest way to replace the temp sender is to replace the entire motor.

*My charging module replaced

*My DMC (motor controller replaced twice) I've been having a D4 problem and still am

*Rear fender subframe or bracket replaced because the original one caused the rear tire to hit the fender when hitting a big pot hole/bump or when hoping off a curb which caused the original one to crack plus the updated bracke had extra material to prevent water splashes to go inside the under seat clmpartment.

*Rear turn signal replaced because it sagged and kept falling off

*Front brake pads with EBC, the pads are the same with the Ducatti S2r, I need my rotors replaced too but still researching on adapting some float disc.

So far those are as far as I could remember

[werm_works]

Oh my bike broke again with just about 16 miles after a month of leaving my bike at Bartell's HD and now it's there again for a few weeks

Oh and they cracked my fairing tightening it as if it was a Harley


I miss Dave Harvey

[Brammofan]

I miss Dave Harvey

Me too. Sorry they're messing up your bike.

[werm_works]

Bartell's messed up my bike!!!!

I got my bike back today delivered by them and I got home to see a cracked sub frame and missing charging cable WTF

What else will I find out??