Say Hello To "Sparky"

[Brillot2000]

Hey All,

I picked picked my Zero SR, a.k.a. Sparky. We went for a ride up into the the Hollywood Hills after leaving the Dealer. I stopped to take pictures of Sparky on Mulholland Drive at one of the Vistas, see attached images.











After getting home and having some dinner. I then started to install all accessories that I got onto Sparky. Her transformation had begun last night.

 

[Brillot2000]

This morning was our Maiden Voyage to work. Sparky sure looks great in the early morning light.



Once we got to work, plugged her into one of the EV Charging Stations at the facility to charger her up for the ride home later on today. My Interface Box that I built works perfectly...

 

[wildeone]

nice, what is the exhaust sound?

 

[Brillot2000]

nice, what is the exhaust sound?

Have you ever put your face in front of a fan. Its kind of like that...

 

[L.B.S.]

Sparky's looking good Bruce- it almost has a bit of NC700S look to it, was my first impression for some strange reason.

 

[itlives]

What's the mpg? JK! What's the mpc (charge)

 

[Brillot2000]

What's the mpg? JK! What's the mpc (charge)

That's difficult to gauge at this time as this my first ride in to work and I did not have a full charge this morning. I started out with 86% of charge and rode on the freeway cruising between 70 to 80 MPH. Once I reached work, I had 38% of charge left. Also the sub-functions of the gauges have not been explored yet, which revel other important information such as you are requesting.

Give me a couple of days to get all these minor things worked out and then I will report back to you all.

I let me see how I do on the way home and running some errands later on.

 

[Therapy]

Have you ever put your face in front of a fan. Its kind of like that...

LOL.

When you hum does it vibrate the same?

When they become economical I will join you, as will many.

 

[L.B.S.]

LOL.

When you hum does it vibrate the same?

hahaha or: Luuuke! I am your Father

 

[wildeone]

does it have 12V and 110V outlet?

 

[Brillot2000]

does it have 12V and 110V outlet?

Please be more specific.

The battery pack is rated at 96 VDC nominal. There's a 300W DC to DC Converter that supplies 12 VDC to run all the lighting and accessories.

To charge, all is needed is either a 96 VDC Quick Charger or a 120 to 240 VAC power source via a IEC 302 C13 AC Power Cord in any conceived configuration within that voltage range.



I used this today...

 

[itlives]

nice, what is the exhaust sound?

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

 

[pismocycleguy]

Bruce,
Did it come with a charger and charging port on the bike, or is that an extra cost option?
When you said you built a charger, what did you mean? Did you buy or convert a charger you already had, or simply make a compatible cord to connect a charger to "Sparky"?
Do you know how long of time is required to recharge a depleted battery to full capacity?
And I'll be waiting for your posting of your range of travel for a fully charged battery pack.

 

[macguy]

Nice looking bike, glad you finally got to pick her up. Keep us posted on your findings!

 

[Old Can Ride]

The military is building a hover bike. Eventually you will be hovering above traffic on the commute to work

 

[Brillot2000]

Bruce,
Did it come with a charger and charging port on the bike, or is that an extra cost option?
When you said you built a charger, what did you mean? Did you buy or convert a charger you already had, or simply make a compatible cord to connect a charger to "Sparky"?
Do you know how long of time is required to recharge a depleted battery to full capacity?
And I'll be waiting for your posting of your range of travel for a fully charged battery pack.

The comes comes with a standard AC Cord Port like the one found a Desktop PC. With this option along can take over 8 hours to fully charge the battery. There's a optional DC Quick Charger, which is an extra $600, which is suppose to cut the charge times in half.

Tonight, I am current using both on 2 separate electrical circuits as instructed to do so. The combination of the 2 is suppose to cut that time down even further. I will see what if it's 100% charged in the morning.

Today I put over 50 miles on the full charge from work earlier. I do believe that 47 or 43% was still remaining.

 

[Banjoferg]

This is pretty fascinating. I'm really curious to learn how she behaves over time.

 

[wildeone]

wonder if there is any "recharging" process during riding? let's say you riding downhill, will battery regain some power?

 

[Brillot2000]

Bruce,
Did it come with a charger and charging port on the bike, or is that an extra cost option?
When you said you built a charger, what did you mean? Did you buy or convert a charger you already had, or simply make a compatible cord to connect a charger to "Sparky"?
Do you know how long of time is required to recharge a depleted battery to full capacity?
And I'll be waiting for your posting of your range of travel for a fully charged battery pack.

1. There's a On-board charger rated at 1.3kW. Zero offers a DC Quick Charging Module for an additional $600, which they claims that can cut the charge time in half and they can be ganged together to reduce that time even further. I used both the On-board and Quick Chargers last night to see what if it would and it did.
2. I built an Interface Box that accepts the SAE J1772 Cables found on most EV Charging Stations and then convert it to the IEC 320 C13 AC Power Cord that then interfaces with the bike. Zero offers an Adapter Cable, however $300 for it, I decided to make my own for under $50. If you compare the two, you will see that mine is better made and more "Industrial" in construction.
3. Once you plug in any charger the charging status is shown on the instrument cluster with an estimated time to fully charged in hours and minutes (e.g. 4:12). It's "OK" to leave it plugged in even after its fully charged.
4. I also added the optional "Power Tank" to increase the battery capacity from 12.5 kWh to 15.3 kWh. This will give you about 10 to 25% more range. However if the pack is fully discharged it will add to the overall needed time to charge it.
5. This morning I had a full charge and rode to work about 30 miles. I ride the freeways all the way. I was cursing between 70-75 MPH with a few runs over 80 MPH. The battery dropped to only 60% when I arrived at work. So, I was able to ride 30 miles at an average speed of 73 MPH for an overall 40% usage of the battery.
6. When I plugged in the bike into a 120 VAC plug, it estimated the charge to be a little over 4 hours. It should be fully charged by lunch time...

Let me know if you all have any further questions...

 

[Brillot2000]

wonder if there is any "recharging" process during riding? let's say you riding downhill, will battery regain some power?

The bike does have a "Regenerative System", however the 2 factory settings (ECO and SPORT) do not utilize it. You have to download the Zero App and connect to the bike via Bluetooth to create a "CUSTOM" profile. That's where you can change many parameters for the bike, see screenshot below.