Noob- adding range to a 2011 Zero S? batteries? ICE?

[nil0lab]

Hi everybody

I bought a 2011 Zero S with just a few miles on the odometer, and it ran out of juice on the way home, less than 25 miles from the dealer and more than 10 miles from home. I've since worked on battery balancing and lower-speed to extend range, but I'm nowhere near the range I need (I bought it for a weekly high-traffic 38 mile each way commute with charging at each end).

There are certainly topics here with people throwing around chemistry and electrical jargon which I'm having a little trouble following- can I get some pointers as to how to get started? I do know how to use a screwdriver, a hex key, and a voltmeter, so I'm not 100% noob, just close. In particular, if anyone has already done it and posted step by step technical details someplace, please point me to it. I've been looking but my google-fu is apparently insufficient to the task.

If adding more battery capacity turns out to be problematic as it sounds, I'm also thinking I might build a detachable rig for a 32lb internal combustion range-extender- you might call it my e-bomination - a motor I could mechanically engage at speed and that would disengage automatically when there's any braking at all. Kinda Chevy Volt style. To the e-bike's e-brain, it would appear that the motorcycle suddenly has less drag, like it's an artificial down-hill, so it should be OK- it knows how to handle a downhill. I'd attach the range extender only for longer trips, where distance and speed are required (45mph minimum, required by law, for the bridge crossing at least). For most trips, I'd remove it completely. More details: I think I could dispense with the ICE's starting mechanism since I'd always already be rolling when I engaged it. And I've also looked into generators- far as I can tell, using a generator instead of mechanical engagement would more than double the weight for the same horsepower and make detachability prohibitive- it'd need its own trailer at that rate.

Nil

 

[Hillhater]

I would first figure out why the battery isnt taking the full charge.
That bike should easily do the 38 ml trip.
Was there no warranty at all from the dealer ?

 

[wesnewell]

Reviews of the bike show it doesn't have enough range to make 38 miles at high speeds. And that was on a new battery.
http://www.ridermagazine.com/road-tests/2011-zero-s-road-test.htm/

 

[jateureka]

You might want to move this over to the motorcycle section - you might get more responses there.

You might want to talk to Doctorbass, but it looks like there were 2 different size battery packs on offer, according to this for sale post http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=51250

 

[nil0lab]

Thanks, yes, the specs indicate it should go far enough, with 5-15 miles extra leeway, which is why I bought it...

http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-s/2011/specs.php

There are higher capacity electric motorcycles from Zero, mostly since that year, but this is the model with the 4.4 Kwh battery.

I've gotten much better range on my later rides, keeping velocity to 45mph, but have only been able to infer that I might get 35 miles

I've had discussions with the manufacturer who has said the specs are only for ideal conditions, but have got them to give me more details on optimal charging etc. They say that it can take 72 hours on charger to balance the cells over and above the 4 hours it takes to do the initial charge, so I did leave it charged in for the past four days. Someone on a forum opined that charging when hot was not optimal, so I've been letting it cool down after riding before charging. We'll see if that helps.

I also had an incident where I felt it pulling when stopped, and they are sending me a new throttle. I imaging that could hurt range, but it only happened a couple of times. The worst one was then I was trying to follow their recommendations to maximize range which was to keep speed down to 25mph, which necessitated a many-stoplights route (they don't let you go less than 45mph on the highway

I didn't see the motorcycle forum- I'll look there, thanks! Do I just start a new thread there or is there an actual move function someplace I missed?