Have you seen any battery loss of capacity?

[Adan]

Taking up Skuzzle/ShinySide's conversation from another thread, some folks have had their Empulse for well over a year.  Have you noticed any loss of range? 

I'm at 10 months and 5500 miles, and my barometer is my daily commute, but there are so many variables, the primary one being traffic congestion.  My observations are also skewed because I put a windscreen on about 5 months into it, which increased my range by about 10%.  I "feel" like I may have lost about one percentage point since putting on the windscreen, based on average daily commuting results, but it's difficult to be conclusive.

[Virtually Yours]

I also use my daily commute as a barometer. I'm right under 9k miles and I thought I might have lost a bit but turns out I'm getting fat. Since I've got my R I've gained 10 lbs but what I noticed besides the weight gain is I also ride a little faster since I got extremely comfortable with the bike. So having said all that the short answer is no I don't think I lost any battery capacity.

[Adan]

It's a good point that you have to think carefully about trends in use or even things like your body weight.  For instance, after I put the windscreen on (which I'm using as the baseline against which to figure a reduction in range), I also put the full Cortech softbag set on the bike.  Previously I had been using only the top bag, but sidebags were added because I was more often finding myself carrying lots of groceries home.  So I increased wind resistance and weight (of the bags and of the groceries).  This could explain the slight (1%) decrease.

Lose those 10 lbs, Virtually, and you'll have more range -- yet another incentive to stay svelte.

[Virtually Yours]

Lose those 10 lbs, Virtually, and you'll have more range -- yet another incentive to stay svelte.

Ha! My goal is to lose 30 lbs! I started my diet at 210 lbs and my goal is 180 lbs @ 6% bodyfat. That will put me to my "pre-married" condition. 

[Gavin]

7500 miles...no obvious loss of range.

As for getting back to pre marriage weight...nah...I was like 140 and 6 foot...ok when your 20, but looks bad at 50...a few years ago I went crazy with running and got down to 155 and everybody thought I had cancer or aids...so I bulked back up...I should lose 5 or 10 pounds, as 170 is about right for my build, but I'm ok at 180...

Probably adding a windshield would be a better way to add range over weight loss...or a fairing...

G

[Shinysideup]

Also at 6'1" and 170 lbs. and haven't noticed any degradation in range at 16,600 miles over 18 months.

Highly recommend a windshield for about a 10% boost in range.

Like Adan, I ride in the SF Bay Area where temps are fairly uniform on the cool side, and I also have a standard commute route.

About 12 miles averaged 78% SOC at my destination riding the naked bike; now from 83% to 87% with the windshield installed. When traffic is heavy and I split lanes on the freeway, the 20 mph in 1st gear boosts the range considerably.

In general I've come to figure about 1% SOC for each 1 mile driven in town. And roughly one half that on the freeway. Overall average is about 0.7 mile for each 1% SOC. This is very close to Brammo's advertised range.

For trip planning, I conservatively allow 35 miles as my most distant point for a 70 mile round trip without charging.

[CAT in HAWAII]

Also at 6'1" and 170 lbs. and haven't noticed any degradation in range at 16,600 miles over 18 months.

Highly recommend a windshield for about a 10% boost in range.

Like Adan, I ride in the SF Bay Area where temps are fairly uniform on the cool side, and I also have a standard commute route.

About 12 miles averaged 78% SOC at my destination riding the naked bike; now from 83% to 87% with the windshield installed. When traffic is heavy and I split lanes on the freeway, the 20 mph in 1st gear boosts the range considerably.

In general I've come to figure about 1% SOC for each 1 mile driven in town. And roughly one half that on the freeway. Overall average is about 0.7 mile for each 1% SOC. This is very close to Brammo's advertised range.

For trip planning, I conservatively allow 35 miles as my most distant point for a 70 mile round trip without charging.

 i know my range has gone down, but not by much...
i think for me, about 1% of battery equals 1 mile at around 30mph... 
at about 55mph, its 2% battery for 1 mile...
 at at 70mph,,, or up hills, it just decreases the range considerably,,,

my average commute to work is 28.6 miles, (or 30.4 miles in the zip lane),
if there is traffic, and have a lot of stop and go, i may have 55-73% battery when i get to work.

if there is NO traffic and I'm late (blazing it) at 70-75 most of the way, I'm lucky to have 45% battery left..
scares my wife, but then ill just take the highway home at around 30 mph (of which i can only go so far on highway) before getting back on freeway...
some days get home with 3 or 4% left... oh well,,, 
after a year and a half, i kinda got the routine down...
not much different when i got the hard cases,, maybe only lose a little more range at the blazing speed...
not sure if the weight made much difference..

i am planning on getting a wind screen... one of these days... and putting a speaker system in for my iPhone..

wonder how much they will affect my range... maybe a wash if i do both together...

[Richard230]

So far no one with a 2012 or later Zero has reported any loss of battery capacity and that includes Terry's blimp that now has about 70,000 miles on his very mistreated battery pack.  I am pretty sure that both Zero and Brammo batteries are a lot more durable than anything else on the consumer market right now.      Probably a lot more durable than some IC motorcycle models you might think of.   

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

Great thread to resurrect. I haven't noticed any change is range. Weather and traffic have a far larger impact on range than changes in the battery. I'm at ~12k miles, and the bike is 18 months old.

[littlefreak3000]

Opps wrong thread.

[Jeff]

Yep 20k+ miles, and if there's been any loss of capacity so far it's not noticeable.