| Author | Message | ||
     86129squids |
Really LOVING the way this thing looks! http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2016/06/zero-motorc ycles-celebrates-10th-anniversary-with-limited-edi tion-bike/ Somehow before I croak, I'd sure like an E-bike like this. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I'd love one also. Gotta get that battery technology to double capacity and half price a couple more times, and we will be there. | ||
| Airbozo |
$13,500 (after federal and state tax credits) for a 2016 DSR is a pretty good deal, especially considering the no gas or oil part. Not sure if you are serious about the half price statement (which would put it at $3500 by your math). I do agree with the capacity statement though. Even where I live, I could commute to and from work on normal range. Running errands at lunch might put a little anxiousness in me though. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Good clarification. I was speaking just of the battery component, not of the bike as a whole. The bike itself is damn near perfect. It was waiting on the batteries to be "not impossible" in terms of range and cost. They are there now, this is not a foolish bike to buy as it sits now if you can afford it. What I am looking forward too is the battery evolution going from "not impossible" to "damn cheap". Can you imagine that Zero selling for $5000 new with a 200 mile freeway range? It would be revolutionary for the planet. | ||
| Rick_a |
I like hard acceleration. That really kills the range on these. While I think they're cool, the way electric vehicles are touted as the saviors of our future world I really don't buy. We're trading one type of waste for others. I'll agree with Reep that the batteries have a long way to go before I'd consider one a viable form of transportation. | ||
| Airbozo |
I'm with you Rick. I tend to have a lead foot and tightly wound right wrist when I am having fun. Which is about half the time as my commute is half mountain twisties, half freeway. This is the #1 reason I have not bought an electric motorcycle. Yet. I have been expecting the partnership between Panasonic and Tesla to improve the battery technology and we'll see if that happens once production starts in earnest. | ||
| Josequinones |
My experience is that sustained highway speeds kill the range on my Zero, not acceleration. So twist away from stoplights, just keep it under 70 and your range will be close to advertised. | ||
| Reepicheep |
While both electric and gas currently generally consume fossil fuels, a coal fired plant can have building sized boilers and room sized scrubbers and can achieve very high efficiencies. And carbon based fuel will always be carbon based fuel. But electric bikes can be nuclear powered (and maybe some solar supplement), which is really the best long term choice for the planet. (Heck, carbon based fuel is nuclear power as well, it's just a million year old battery that was charged by our sun). | ||
| Airbozo |
Josequinones: Good to know this. I too thought hard acceleration was a battery killer. | ||
| Noone1569 |
Zero FXS is my next bike. Shooting for this fall. | ||
| Josequinones |
Of course hard acceleration is worse than gentle acceleration for battery capacity, but highway speeds are even worse for range simply because of aerodynamics and you are typically doing it for a longer amount of time than accelerating. But once you experience an SR at full acceleration you don't care how much battery capacity it consumes. You just want to get to the next stoplight to do it again. | ||
| Josequinones |
Noone1569, You will have a blast on that bike. I would wait until the 2017's are announced in October just in case they increase capacity or introduce some other major improvement. |
