Zero SR/F motorcycle road test. The HONEST electric bike review | Is EV the future?
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- BikeSocial thrashes a Zero SR/F electric motorcycle to find out what it's really capable of. Get the maths here: www.bennetts.c...
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How long until an electric bike pays for itself? Get the maths here: www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/reviews/bikes/zero/zero-srf-2020-electric-motorcycle-review
rrys, sorry mate but that's rubbish. In fact, EVs will be able to help the grid by using off-peak electricity and balancing the grid during high demand. It just takes smart charging technology which is already available.
@@MostlyBonkers V2G battery storage, there are entire office blocks in Japan powered like this 👍
@rrys where's your evidence? Studies backed by petrochemical associates do not count.
What? I exclusively charge my motorcycle and cars over night. Wake up with a “full tank” every day. Never waste time going to a gas station.
People said air conditioners would over power the grid, it didn’t. It slowly increases the load is all.
With EVs, this won’t even be a problem. AC doesn’t run at night much, when we all charge. Uses about the same kW. Better yet, no more power wasted fracking, drilling, pumping, hauling, refining, hauling, storing and pumping gas. (6-12kWh used her gallon generated, better offbeat just using that power for cars)
Balanced review. I commute daily on a Zero SR. Perfect commuting bike, for all the reasons you have stated.
It would be, but as far as I can tell, it's not possible to charge the bike if you can't get it right up next to the power supply. For a lot of us living in the city, we are stuck with other charging stations that aren't at home.
IMHO, it's foolish that they've got it designed without removable batteries as I could easily charge my battery on the deck where I've got an outlet, but no ability to string an extension cord to where the bike would be parked.
I wish I had the money to buy one for commuting. As is I use a scooter for commuting and reserve my mt07 for longer ride with mates. Seen a few electric bike in my country but none can hit 110kmh easily and be small enough for my commute.
@@flyinghigh2000 zero fxs
Do you get any vibrations in the handle bars compared to petrol? I had to sell my old GS550 and give up biking due to vibration white finger. Hands were completely white after 15 miles.
@@damianbutterworth2434 Perfectly smooth, no vibration from anything, Get a test ride in if you can, see for yourself.
Energy density is not quite there for battery, however in 5 years it will be. Regarding the small-mindedness... that's just human nature. I remember back in the 70's, it took a completely fresh generation of bikers to accept the new cheap Japanese bikes with their fancy electric starting and actual reliability. Within 10 years you could barely buy a British bike and all those oldies were riding around on CX500s. Change will happen with or without you.
Well said, it is only a matter of a few years before electric bikes become better is pretty much every performance metric than gas bikes, not to rag on gas bikes or anything but the truth is the truth.
They also have not figured out DC Fast Charging yet. But yes 5 years time if they can do a 30kwh motorcycle. Then combine that with DC Fast Charging. 200 Miles in 30 Minutes or 300 miles in 1 Hour should be doable in 5 years.
@@Neojhun What is needed is swapable batteries. You ride to the recharging point, and remove your batteries, and trade them in for fully charged batteries, and you just swap them.
@Bernd DasBrot WTF does that even mean. I was talking about how is can dramatically change very soon. All the required improvements exist in Small Cars. These SuperBike (not e bikes) makers need to adopt the same SAE CCS standards.
@@The.Toaster That’s why my first line says “energy density is not quite there”.
;D
I don't get the hate, there's always a cost to being an early adopter. When you think the internal combustion engine has had over a century of development as has the infrastructure ev tech is catching up quickly. The big leap will come when solid state batteries will arrive.
For go to work, charge at work, then ride home things ev's are fantastic. But it kinda takes the fun out of the bike when you gotta charge for 4 hours after 100 miles. I mean most bike riders I've ever known all go on long rides on the weekends, very rarely are they a person's work vehicle.
@@enrobsorussell In years to come, people will look back at ICE vehicles like we do now with ol' Nokia phones that had Symbian OS compared to an iphone.. The technology is so superior that it's not even about green issues, it's just a matter of time..
@@enrobsorussell Wow Russell. That is one of the most Luddite, anti-progress comments I've read! lol Best you stick with your trusty ol' gas-guzzler then ol' bean.
@@wodenoftheangles3339 you can dispense with the labelling of a person with legitimate points and simply answer how you think that 1. Range 2. Longevity 3. Safety 4. How green. 5. Infrastructure will be addressed. This bike is NOT for everyone at this point. And with high present costs I would add #6 Economy
@@enrobsorussell people were saying exactly the same about Teslas 5 years ago.. lol
I love the idea of electric bikes. The torque numbers 😃 they just need more development for range.
It's the future, bring it on.
Torque doesn't work how you think it works.
So many things are the future, if only they get sorted out in time!
Torque on a bike will have to be tamed.. So almost useless having anymore than usual.
That's why the modes - soft for softies and joint-testing for the muscular. (and sometimes some in-between)
@@BigUriel holy crap a mind reader 🙃
When you live with an electric vehicle you change your driving (riding), saving the bursts of torque for where it's fun. Similarly highway (motorway) speeds dramatically effect range. Simply going the speed limit on the boring flat stretches saves a lot of range. Once you get used to it and learn to plan ahead it gets easier.
Yes, this is still an early adopter's toy (that's me!). Still, it's the first electric bike I've ridden that feels like a real motorcycle.
Oh, and my dealer's demo SR/F blew by me like I was parked coming onto the straight at our local track, me on my Speed Triple R.
@Bill Kerr - You are absolutely correct. It's the same as driving a Tesla or any electric vehicle. You just change your driving habits and your old way of thinking - plan your drive / routes etc. just like the guy did in this video did with his Tom Tom GPS 'ahead of time'. And of course we all like to give the throttle a Full Blast of Power every now and then, you just need to take that into consideration as you go. :)
Your range issue is because you ride like a hooligan, relax enjoy the ride
The limited range is certainly a drawback. But let's talk turkey. If you get it on, a classic Harley will wear your body out after 100 miles. Between the vibration and the shoulder strain, your body will need a 3 hour recharge.
Why a harley though? If you get an actual motorcycle you can travel for days without getting tired.
Perhaps, but a modern Harley won't. I'm not a particular fan of HD, but I rented one and put roughly 300 miles on it over the course of a day. I was perfectly fine without much rest.
i would keep my opinion as -
i think cruisers are actually having the most painful riding triangle. legs forward, hands up ahead that compromise the blood supply, 90 degree sitting posture making the butts the centre point of wearing all the weight of upper body.
i have experienced that the best bike for the person as per his height is like-
foot peg just below the butt
70 degree forward inclination
wider seat in anterior half also so that the legs also participate in weight bearing along with butt ofr upper body,
knee pads on both sides of fuel tank.
Howard Green - I agree with you. I've owned a couple Harley's in the past, and after driving 90 miles (one way) with some friends one day, I was dreading the trip back home. So stopping to recharge an electric motorcycle is fine with me. I'm 67 years old so it will be a welcomed break to get off the bike, get something to eat and drink while it's charging then head out again. I looked at the Zero SRF in this video (yesterday) and seriously considering buying it. I've driven ALL the Zero's and they are awesome!! But the SRF is my favorite.
Your riding is dangerous. No need to watch your entire review.
Honest review, funny how it went from mt07, mt09 to mt10 in the end 😂
Hot button issue! I don't think we're opposed to bringing E bikes into the fold, it's the peoole who don't even like motorbikes who think they're the answer and gas bikes will be forcefully collected. That causes serious division issues.
@Bum Face Gammon I've been hearing people say electric vehicles are the future all my life. Zero has been making their electric bikes for well over a decade, I have yet to see one on the road. Tesla has been making electric cars for even longer, they're still a very rare sight on the road and still basically expensive toys that most people couldn't possibly afford. "Future" is a vague term, goes from right now to infinity. When is this future supposed to happen?
Simply accepting that there are technological challenges to electric vehicles that still prevent them from being widespread affordable and practical transportation, and probably will for many years still, isn't slagging anything off, it's just being realistic.
I would be very surprised if 20 years from now most of the bikes on Britain's roads didn't still run on petrol.
@Bum Face Gammon I think electric propulsion is awesome. max torque from zero rpm. It's the batteries that are a pain. Heavy and much less power dense as compared to petrol, slow to charge. I think I'd want some fake bass tube exhausts on an electric bike for when filtering through town centre traffic, and they really need to be a lot cheaper.
The secret to buying a Zero is buying used. You can save up to half. And it's not like you have to worry about the prior owners wear and tear on a combustion engine...
No you just have to worry about the prior owners' wear and tear on a battery pack.
@@BigUriel WTF Not much you can do on the battery pack other than discharge it too many time. But that is easily shown by max battery capacity. Its the Running Gear which can be abused by previous owner, it still has many typical mechanical and suspension parts which can wear out.
@Rabbi Jesus You have no clue how a LARGE FORMAT Battery Array works. You are stupidly assuming it functions like a battery with a few cell. They do not function the same. Oh the irony.
@Rabbi Jesus en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_balancing
When you have lots of Cells and you do not always drain the whole battery to empty. The BMS balances the load over multiple cells trying to reduce the Cycles per Cell. This is not realy viable when you have limited cells, but EV MotorCycles can have close to 100 Cells. There is not much you can do to Reverse Ware. But there should be lots of health left for a Zero that is handful years old.
@Rabbi Jesus WTF troll, that makes no sense. You seem delusional and have no clue what you are arguing against. Instead devolving into some personal tirade. Surrounded by what??? It's not easy to obtain many Large Format Batteries they are Expensive and Rare. Unless you work in the industry "surrounded by it daily" is not viable. You can't even get basic technical things correct yet devolved into "a clueless dolt". Oh the irony.
Why are we constantly seeing city commuters measured against touring test. In the last year I have gone farther than 100 miles three times and all three times there was a charging station open and unused at my destination which was midpoint for the day. Would you rate an R1 on how it performs off-road? Or do you judge a Harley by it's track performance? You can get 150 miles traveling in downtown traffic. You ride all day, charge at work or at night and never have to go to a gas station. Never change oil or check valves, or lubricate chains. These bikes are fine and especially if you live in the city or have two bikes.
I'm holding out for the development of the small fusion reactor ;-)
LOL, we dont even have large ones yet, I dont think that small ones are going to happe in out lifetime ^^
Start working on it. Get in on the ground floor. Invest. If you see that as the future profit from it.
Solar Bike
It's all relative... If you think back to the first motorcycles way back in the day, they weren't reliable and couldn't go far without breaking down. Look at how far they have come! This type of bike is still early in its gestation and once the infrastructure/batteries improve they are only going to get better. Not there yet, but as you say it'll happen.
Every motor vehicle back then couldn't go far without breaking. That's not saying much. Horses use to break down all the time as well. They put a a bullet through them and kept moving. (they as in the owners or carriage masters)
Campbell Zero One Great commuter bike for some lucky rich person
@@marshmallows4150 Yep, but just as with flat screen televisions, mobile phones and cars with heated seats it'll all trickle down to the rest of us eventually! 😉😂
@@CampbellZeroOne thats the beauty of tech....10 years ago i didnt think i could buy a flat screen. now i could easily go out and buy three of them if i did a side job. and they would be quality screens too
@@M1XEDBAG Yep. I don't even bother buying an extended warranty on a flat screen anymore. Not worth it when they are so cheap. Hopefully electric bikes go that way too, and don't seem like such a compromise. Some kind of sound emulator would help things along. Lack of sound/character seems to be one of the main gripes that you hear from people. A nice selection of soundtracks would help with that. "Today I'll be riding a V4 thank you very much!"
British standards have really dropped in what is considered music
Sounded like an oompa loompa song at the start
id have one if cheaper..
I rode one of these and really enjoyed it. Sounds great, handles well and I love not having to use a clutch / gearbox. It's too expensive for me and doesn't do enough miles but I'm looking forward to a time when it will. Good review!
We are still in the early stages of full electric bikes. It’s definitely a city commuter vehicle.
Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and all cars,motor bikes were battery operated what would the Goverment do to get back the tax they get from petrol,diesel.?
Super impractical for the riding I do unfortunately, and the costs are far too high for the build quality at the moment. Excited for future progress though.
Just watched another video on a smaller one topped out at 60 for only 2,800 dollars. Shorter range also.
You should NOT be an example of how to drive a bike.
Very unpro.
And, no, hydrogen is not the future. Its best case scenario is incredibly inefficient compared to even today's battery technology, and at the moment nearly all hydrogen is produced by steam reforming of fossil fuels (which is why the traditional energy companies want to go down that route so we keep using their distribution networks)
Oh it gets much worse. H2 as energy medium is utterly idiotic because of a simple fact. STP Density of 0.08988 grams/Litre.
That crazy low density has far too many resulting consequences and problems which have to be combatted. It will never be used on a City Population scale for Vehicles.
Hydrogen is 1000X more green than lithium. Lithium mining is horrible for the environment, but it occurs in China's backyard, so you don't give a crap.
Hydrogen is the future.
@@iwasadeum Gah the amount of erroneous rumours is appalling.
1. 1000x is not even a realistic number
2. GREEN & Greenwashing is Pointless it's a dead concept.
3. Lithium is not economically viable to come from China. It's Chile & Australia is the two biggest producers of Lithium, NOT CHINA.
www.mining.com/australia-takes-chile-worlds-no-1-lithium-producer/
4. Lithium Ion is a temporary solution as it comes from Electronics Industry. SODIUM Ion is the next step.
5. Hydrogen Fuel Cells specifically PEM require Platinum group
metals. These exotic metals especially refining processing is China's expertise. PEM Fuel Cells raw materials COME From CHINA.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum_group
6. H2 0.08988 grams per litre Denisty & Molecule Size is soo tiny it cause many problems. It will never be used for Hundreds of Thousands Street Vehicles on a City Scale. It is simply too problematic for City Scale Storage & Distribution.
Simply put, NO H2 is not the future. Lithium Ion is NOT 1000x worse than PEM fuel cells. None of these are 100% clean. But BEV are much much cleaner than ICE especially over it's long 350,000 miles lifespan.
Very informative and a good example of joy riding and distance riding capability. Thanks. Looks fun.
Battery capacity is set to more than double over the next 5 years and the prices will drop. Electric cars/bikes are far less complex than ICE and will be cheaper to build. They are also, in principle, spectacularly powerful.
"Cheaper to build", No disrespect but where do you compare 20k electric to a liter bike of around 5-10k "Cheaper". You cannot do maintenance yourself on electric cars or motorcycles so you will always rely on dealers overcharged prices. That's not cheaper.
Excellent excellent video! Non biased speaking from a true riding perspective. Thanks for making. BTW I have a 2016 Zero SR and absolutely LOVE it!
Its simple. If you wanna show off and be a douche bag spend $20k+ on electric or a real sport bike. If you wanna save a shit ton of money getting from point A to B or just back and forth to work get something cheaper like a Daymak or Emmo. Daymak Em1 (electric Honda Grom basically) is the most fun i've had on two wheels 🙌 New they're only like $2500. I got mine used for $900 🤣and maybe spent about $20 in the last 3 months charging it. 🏍🏍
The elephant in the room in nearly all reviews of electric motorbikes is climate change. Electric motorcycles might be the only option in 10 or 20 years time and the only "niche" available. Perhaps you should read the manual beforehand and present a more informed review that demonstrates how people can use a type of motorbike that we are going to be forced to use in the future.
I use my 2017 zero sr to commute about 50 miles a day. Plug in my employers parking garage and don’t pay for electricity obviously. It’s amazing for a college kid/full time worker like myself. Obviously not for state to state rides
How's you afford a e-bike as a student? Good on ya!
Steve Febvre also a full time job 😂. No car.
@@Planclanman3 I remember those days. Grim. It gets better with time however!! :-O
I think charge time should be noted is from empty to full, depending on the charger the bike is equipped with and the power available.
Just like most people plug their phone in at night, if you plug your bike in every night, it really does not matter how long it takes, as long as it is ready for you the next day... and if you are taking a longer ride, the charge tank option will help charge times and if you charge when you can and only charge to 80%, the charge time will be much less. Do not charge to full, charge to the amount you need when you are on a long trip and charge time is taking away from riding. EV batteries charge faster when they are emptier... and the last 20% charges really slow, so if you can avoid charging the last 20 or even 10%, it will save you lots of time.
Just an FYI.
To be honest it sounds like you are trying to convince yourself that the bike is worth the money.
Yes the bike looks nice, the range is terrible, you only did 61 miles and the battery was dead.
Also it was a nice day for your ride, looking at the charge point it seemed fully exposed to rain collection, Is that really safe?
I mean let's say it was pissing down with rain you opened the flap instantly the rain would collect in that zone, so now the flap has all the water soaking into the socket, you now need to push that high voltage cable into the submerged socket.
I don't recall seeing any electric cars having their socket sticking up exposing the socket to rain so easily they usually have them on the side or at the front on a slant, this is full upright it's like a bucket waiting to be filled with water.
And then over 3 hours just to put enough in to go 61 miles.
But like you said and were so convincingly working hard at convincing yourself it would be a good bike for anyone who only wanted to go 61 miles and stand around for nearly 4 hours waiting for a charge to get home if they don't get electrocuted while trying to plug the thing in.
Oh one other thing, there are some guys on youtube who bought a couple of these bikes in Norway I think it was and it seems the drive belts keep snapping, not sure if it is the same model but, not too good having belts snap.
Oh I like electric motorcycles, I have one of the original Vectrix scooters and I also have a smaller 1000 watts scooter but let's be honest the one thing needed for electric bikes is the one thing none of the manufacturers are doing and that is fitting Tesla batteries in their bikes to get good range and power.
One guy did it and got over 150 miles to a single charge on a victrix so I heard.
The one thing that is bothersome is you could have went into ECO mode knowing you were range close, and easily made it. No I do own one, yes I have rode one, and ECO mode is not that bad of a ride.
the sound of that Emotorcycle is annoying 😳
The sound of a gas bike is annoying. (Gonna get hate for this comment)
Its not about how fast one goes - leading on to your ultimate funeral - but how much time you save from point A to B. Keep in mind that most roads have a speed limit way below the fastest E-Bikes
No one who can spend 20k on a toy bike gives a shit what gas would cost for it...end of story.
You'd think so, and I would too, except that there are plenty of people who spend 70k on a Diesel luxury car aren't there? The though of not paying to *use* a vehicle is very alluring to people, even if they paid so much to buy it that it doesn't make any financial sense.
My Comment Of ZERO SR/F: Zero should use 21700 instead 18650 battery. Far more powerful than SR but same 14.4KW. battery that will heat up your under-powered battery. ZERO should go for 20KW. battery. Lithium-Ion battery price has come down as ZERO did not drop their price. All it will take, more companies come out with quality electric motorcycles at much cheaper price plus more than 300km. per charge.
The Zero batteries use flat cells to maximize the density of the battery unit. I toured the Scott's Valley factory where the Zero rep (at the battery assembly line) explained the battery units have no wasted space and the main factor limiting battery capacity is the lack of space on a EV motorcycle for a larger battery comptment. He pointed out that EV cars have a lot of room to work with and typically use round battery cells.
Free fuel for the bike but £25 fuelling your body while your waiting for recharge lol
Tho you, and other bike owners may thrill to the sound of their gas bikes, the rest of us abhor it (an exception is BMW, which, with unmodified mufflers, is quiet. Except for the probably of injury common to all bikes, I'm all for electric.
The clutch went on mine!😋
completely disappeared !
No clutch, no wheelies.
As battery tech and electric motors improve electric bike performance / Range and acceleration will outperform combustion engine bikes.
I love the idea of electric bikes, but I know from my vast experience with RC models that battery is a problem, not only range but lifespan is short depending how you use and store the battery when not in use, be lucky to get 3 years out of one and I mean lucky, more likely fair bit less before performance drops considerably.
Also a lithium battery is really dangerous if physically damaged ..
Until the batteries get much better and the charging infrastructure is there.......
I'm actually thinking some sort of hybrid might work for better range, just a small engine to charge the batteries on the go, the batteries and electric motors still provide all the torque for overtaking etc , but then no guess it's not zero emissions, not that using fossil fuel to make electricity to power the grid and charge up electric cars etc is zero emissions in reality ..
I have a Mitsubishi I-miev 16kHw electric car from 2012. I bought it used 3 yrs ago. I can still go 60 miles range, which is less then original but more than enough for commute. I generally use 20-30 miles a day. So I don't think you can compare the batteries used in cars and motorcycles to RC batteries, especially ones of today.
Most electric vehicles actually have a warranty on the battery pack when you buy it. As an example they usually say it will not lose more than 10% capacity in 8 years or 100,000 miles which ever comes first. There's plenty of electric taxi drivers that have done insane mileage in electric cars. If you Google it you will see Tesla taxi drivers that have done over half a million miles. As for the electricity coming from coal, things are changing in the UK. Its been 2 weeks since any coal was burned to generate any electricity in the UK. More is now being generated by solar and wind. The national grid have said they will close the last of the coal power stations in 6 years time. Have a read here :- www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48473259
My electric car is over 3 years old and it still gives the same range as when new.
I would say that the public charging infrastructure needs to improve, I charge only from home and just once a week.
@@telocities good to know, as battery tech improves I'm seeing better performance on newer lipos for my RC gear too if I buy decent ones.
The simplicity of electric is so much more appealing than a combustion engine, virtually zero maintenance as far as servicing goes ...
I could defo live with 60 miles range generally day to day.
@@2namtaB yeah, I read the thing about 2 weeks and that's good. Still a long way to go but it is the right direction
Electric motorbikes are the future, it's a fact. I like the idea of an electric bike, but recharging needs to be addressed. I love my 2t enduro bike and my v-twin adventure bike, but I am aware that my enjoyment isn't helping the environment. I could bin my 2t enduro for an electric bike as I rarely do more than 80mls on a ride out, but I did 320mls on my adventure bike yesterday and it took less then 10 minutes to refuel it. I'd rather keep my 2t and have an electric bike to replace the v-twin but with todays recharging times, I'm not prepared for that. That's the difficult bit. It will come, but not for a while.
Give me the range of an actual bike and a full recharge from 0 to full in 35 seconds...then we talk. Same for eCars. No alternative for me.
Not talking about its look, acceleration, torque aso. This is, where this bike seems to shine, but not enough for me to spend my money on. See above. Anyway, great review. 👍
35 second seems impossible for typical li-ion battery, not even your phone or laptop charging can be that fast with small capacity battery (heck even refueling cars can't be that fast, unless you're f1 driver) Realistically fast charge should be around 15-30 minutes (from 0 to 80%) and its already available with tesla v3 250kw supercharging and porsche planned to do 400kw charging. Exciting times ahead.
That's the point. No alternative...no deal.
Lol? You're asking for a faster charge time then it would take to fuel a petrol bike.
Would even 2 minutes charge time be too long for you?
I didn't agree your comparing this bike to an ICE bike for long outings as this bike was never meant to compete there. (There are stories of people who do though).
It is a shorter tour commuter / fun bike. I've had the SR, the SRFs predecessor for three years and it's saved me over $5k on gas and the only thing that I"ve had to service is new tires. Brakes look good as new because the regen does most of the braking. People talk about the price is too high for payback. It gets you a hell of a lot closer than any big heavy cruiser and most sport bikes. After you buy an ICE bike, you keep pouring more money into it in one form or another. ....not with electrics.
Also for the fun factor, the SRF has almost %50 more torque than an Hayabusa so it'll knock you back in your seat... the fun is really there.
I'm pleased with how you finished up your review. You did put it into perspective better. More people need to ride one and see what they are missing.
For most UK bikers, they're still looking at these machines, wondering how they'll compare to an ICE bike, hence the angle. You can read all of my thoughts on it here: www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/reviews/bikes/zero/zero-srf-2020-electric-motorcycle-review
Do you realize this bike costs as much as a car, right? If you need to do short commutes, you get a scooter or an e-bike. You get the same end result, and spend waaaaay less. It's obviously that people compare this with an ICE bike, since it costs as much as a high end one.
@@DerpEye
A new car here in the states starts at about $30k basic ....$40k for a performance or anything with gizmos.
My commute is 30 minutes of 80mph. Can any scooter do that? I don't know. ICE bikes cost you gas and maintenance. Cost of electric ownership is waaaay less. ...and you can't beat the convenience of only having to check your tires and brakes before you go out, there simply is nothing else to fiddle with. I value my time and I don't want to spend it tuning, maintaining and fixing a bike.
One more thing. It take me 8 seconds to charge my bike. No kidding. Think about it. I roll into my garage and plug it in. That take about 4 seconds. I get up and unplug it. That take about another 4 seconds.
People compare it to finding and pulling into a gas station, fiddling with your CC, putting the gas nozzle in, stand and wait 10 minutes, repeat to tidy the process up. It's a paradigm thing. People assume the routine will be the same. It is not. The only reason I have ever needed to stop to get a charge is if I forgot to plug in the night before or I got lost in my riding bliss and didn't notice I rode and extra 50 miles. (Where's the gas station one would think ....nope. I need and outlet).
There are two faults with electric right now. Long distance touring and what happens when your battery goes tits up. I haven't had the opportunity to go for a ride that long and my battery, after three years is as good as new. In time, like you so intuitively noted, these issues will be solved.
@@513eis A new car in the US starts under 20k , with taxes. I know that Americans prefer to live in perpetual debt buying expensive vehicles , but that doesn't mean you can't buy a cheap car. The maintenance on a conventional motorbike will be more expensive? Yes, but it'll still cost half brand new. Btw, what else do you check on the bike apart from tires and brakes? Btw, tires and suspensions work in the same way. Same for transmission. You only need to factor oil change. You need gas? Yes, but the difference in price still favours the ice vehicle.
It's not like people are stupid not buying these things. If it was convenient to have one, many would have already bought one.
These are only going to get better. And the thing is in a few years it'll be easily retrofitted with upgraded higher energy density cheaper battery packs. Also by then hopefully Zero will have caught up with fast charging technology.. For example the new Tesla Model 3 can put 1,000 km per hour of charging so a quick 10 minute charge will be all you need. Super chargers are currently kicking out 120KW for charging! If Zero keep up the development they should be able to get well over 200 miles per charge and fast charging and Bob's yer uncle.
Proper electric motorcycle like this will work great in India. People here use motorcycle for daily office commute and even on the highways the speeds are limited under 80kmph so this motorcycle wont have any problem maintaining range. Also I would love lack of noise on the roads in future, its chaotic now.
I think they have a long way to go, when you can get a PC 150 that gets 100+ mpg for the city and light highway or a CB500X that gets 70 + mph for touring or highway use and a fraction of the cost. In fact you can get bough and still be close to half the cost. And the range of the CB500X is around 500 Km per tank,( 310 miles) so no worries about running out of gas. They should consider a bike with a side car like the Ural so you could carry lots of battery for long distance, and if it was a good price I would get one. ( but better quality than the Ural.)
Nice video John, you looked real confident filtering but did you feel more nervous without the exhaust DB’s?
Good question!
For city riding sound is a critical safety feature. I would be very very worried about cars not noticing me and pedestrians stepping out between cars as they often use sound as an indicator that a motorbike is coming.
You may think that as a biker but its not as common as you might think, half the pedestrians have head phones in these days and car drivers still knock noisy bikers off, pedestrians step off the kerbs at junctions right in front of my lorry if they don't see or hear that coming your loud pipes aren't going to make much difference. Cyclists seem to manage on silent two wheelers most of the time.
Great review. They really need to do something about the price. Isn't an MT07 about 6.5k pounds in the UK? Thats 12k cheaper!! you can buy a lot of fuel for 12 grand.
Are you talking about a heavily taxed fuel or the cost price when you say 12 grand buys a lot of fuel.
You might be surprised how fast someone can spend 12k on fuel.
@@redhammer92 I am coming up to retirement age and I have never spent 12K on fuel. Take the tax off and it has been a few K.
@@MrDickBills Electric bikes are commuters. Someone who rides 50 miles a day could rack up thousands of dollars in fuel costs after 5 years. Even at +70mpg
"I'm riding like I normally would"
exactly what you'd get failed for whilst sitting your test ... learn to drive!
go fuck yourself, pedantic asshole
I've been driving EV for nearly 7 years , I'm on my 3rd version as the cars have improved. There is no way that I will never buy a petrol car again.
I rode bikes for years, my biggest hate was the racket the engines make. Electric bikes can bring back peace to the ride, for both the rider and the poor sod who has to listen to a 'tuned' exhaust going past.
If you hate the idea of electric bikes I suggest trying one out.
Were you stopped by the police?
Graphene battery technology is on it's way and with that said, EV range will more than double, weight down 75% and charge
time down to the minutes.....patience people, we're getting there.
Graphene batteries won’t hold enough charge, that is what lithium is for. Graphene batteries are for charging and discharging quickly like super capacitors are supposed to.
@@Martian74
Not a 100% graphene battery, no, but sort of a hybrid graphene-li-ion super cell that is smaller, lighter,
and with a quicker discharge rate, I guess you could say it's like what NOS is to a ICE motor, graphene
is to a li-ion battery, so to speak.
Excellent review. I am the commuter this bike was made for and I have ordered one. Been riding to work on electric bikes for 5 years now and this is the first one that looks and behaves like a normal bike (my last petrol bike was a triumph rocket III!)
I really like the idea. If I had disposable cash, which I don't, then I'd definitely buy an electric bike. I'd have one as well as a petrol bike and have one for long riding and use the electric for commuting, popping to the shops, trips to the city etc so I didn't put extra miles on my other bike. If the range of ebikes goes past 150 miles and the price came down I'd definitely have one as an only bike.
Great review. Very practical. Got a little freaked out watching the reversed traffic.
I think they make some "less" powerful models. If your just using it to commute, and that distance is not that great . One of the lesser range lesser powerful versions may be better.
I've also seen some other small electric scooter looking things. For city riding that may be enough. As long as you can pull away from cars and still filter thru traffic I'm not sure you need anything that powerful.
Great review... Best one I've seen so far
I does not work like that, you can not trade Less Power for Range with Hardware. That can all be done with Software on the existing powerful bike. Just building a Big Battery with a Weak Motor and the chassis needed to support the big battery range will still be similar size & weight. The difference when it comes to parts that make Peak Power, weight & volume is a tiny proportion of the whole bike. Just don't build a silly powerful drivetrain massive heavy mechanical parts, the range will be similar to your theoretical bike.
For a commuter £19K+ is shocking, Super Soco's (very soon to be released) TC Max makes more sence and it's less than £4K with the OLEV grant. And for a non commuter bike it's still shocking and limiting in were you can go, how you can ride it and it's heavy, I don't who it's aimed at other than vertue signalling show offs.
whylie74 go and get a test ride. Try the FXS, it’s hilarious fun and about half the price. Less range than this one, but arguably an even better short blast/commuter. At this point in time, they certainly won’t suit the majority of riders as a replacement for their only bike, but for some, they will still be perfect.
The first Tesla Roadsters were gobsmackingly expensive, now the Model 3 can be had for £400 a month on a lease. I would expect electric motorcycles to do the same - they will have to as £19k is more than you would pay for a Renault Zoe that could carry 4 people twice as far!
I expect 'commuter' bikes like the Super Soco TCMax will become very popular in cities, reducing congestion as well as being astonishingly cheap to run. Longer distances will need fast charging and far better charge infrastructure than we have now.
I own a Zero SR and I absolutely love it! However, I can tell you, it's not a road trip bike. If you want to ride for hours on end, don't buy an electric bike. We are a long way off from 200 miles of range and a 5 minute recharge time. It always erks me when reviewers that don't own an EV take these out on road trip type rides and complain that "the technology is not there yet". It's there, just not for what a gas bike is designed for which is riding for hours on end. End of rant. (I did like your video by the way other than the aforementioned items.)
Battery charging in 5 minutes is absurd should not be the goal. But 30 Minutes and 300 Miles is very doable in several years with backward compatible CCS 1.0 DC Fast Charging.
Id like to see this tested in central London. My worry would be that without an engine to blip you would be totally invisible. I think you'd be constantly using the horn?
Central London is already banning older petrol powered vehicles, newer ones will inevitably be banned in due course. Get used to the idea of silent electric vehicles floating about everywhere.
@@FFVoyager thats what Clive Sinclair said!
ua-cam.com/video/0EQetm_qWDg/v-deo.html
Last year I went on a ride with someone who has exactly the same bike. I took my old R59 out and for sure he could go a lot faster. But I kept getting annoyed. First was when he also had to wait 2 hours and 30 minutes to charge and then we had to stop again and look for a charging point as he didn't have enough battery and, which at the same charging speed as the first time would have taken another 2 hours and 30 minutes. It was at this point I said I'm off and I will see you later. He did eventually show up just over 4 hours later. For myself that just ins't good enough.
C'mon man, I was just thinking what a smart, informing review and then ...and then ..."we haven't got an infinite amount of oil" ...which is true of course but we do have enough to turn earth into Venus, which is to say, running out of oil isn't the reason alternative energy sources are the way of the future.
As an aside, and mostly because I took one for a ride and freaking loved the assured front end, but too because I watched the vid of you and the old racer journo bloke eating bacon butties outside, I bought a NIken.
EV all the way. Prices need to come down considerably though.
Only thing stopping me right now are those high prices. For short commutes you cant beat electric.
I'm old enough to remember as a kid my Dad asking the gas station attendant how far to next gas station to make sure we didn't need to buy extra gas can or go slower to save fuel as we traveled in the back country of the US southwest on vacation. Same with electric bikes, got to know where to charge and if your pushing the distance, maybe use eco mode for some of it. If your only going 30miles, sure go nuts, longer distance be smart.
Ha ha how many times have you been knocked off mate riding like that 😁
It will be much more often when he can't blip his engine to let boxers know he's coming through.
I’m not a Luddite, and am looking forward to having the choice of an electric bike or a petrol but all this video proves is that we are so, so far away from them being a viable option even for the Sunday blast crowd, let alone touring or adventure riding. Effectively a 60 mile range (which rules out a lot of commuters), and a time to recharge of nearly 3 hours. For 8 or 9k, and weighing 160kg or similar those those things can be overlooked, but not for 18k...
I applaud those manufacturers doing things differently, and pushing the electric motorcycle, but we are years and years away from them being a mainstream option.
Probably we will have to wait some 20 years more to get batteries that charge in a minute.
But when and if we will get them, its game over for combustion engines.
With an electric bike you get the best of both worlds. Cheaper maintenance, cheaper "fuel" and you can have the engine sound like any bike you want. When we get those batteries you will still have an exhaust pipe but its a speaker and a subwoofer. You turn on the bike and go to the settings and choose what sound you want.
Really interesting, thank you! Finally one that looks alright...
Why complain about the suspension without playing with its fully adjustable forks and shock? I'm a heavy guy and found the ride quality really good, even when pushed hard. I enjoyed testing it personally: ua-cam.com/video/yL6p5XcTAwU/v-deo.html
I’d say it’s a no go even as a commuter, just because of the hideous price tag. I own 2 Nissan Leaf (30kw and 40kw) and would really like an electric bike, but not with the current range and price...
I spend less than £500 a year on fuel doing 5k miles a year commuting on a Honda CB1100 ex that cost me 9k new. I simply can’t justify the cost of an electric bike
Why are these electric bikes so "slow" from 0-100 considering their high torque figures? Thanks.
Going 70 or 80 max for a short space, for a distance of 7-10 kilometers, go and forth, is it economic or you're gonna drain the battery?
It’s not free! You or I pay for the electricity you are using. That electricity is also not free in terms of pollution. Until we go completely free of power stations. Then of course there is the environmental impact of the production of the bike, especially the battery.
Electric transport is not the answer. Not unless battery tech moves on massively.
I’m not sure what planet you live on Iain but the battery technology is still the same basic technology that the original battery used. It requires a chemical charge to function. What’s worse now is the materials they use are mined in a highly inefficient way due to their very nature and so the bike has already produced several times more pollution than an internal combustion engine bike will in its lifetime before they even turn a wheel. Until they produce a battery that does not require a chemical potential this will always be a problem.
Hydrogen fuel cells are a far better technology but require more investment to set up.
As for renewable energy we are a very long way off that. We managed a month without using coal. But still less than 50% of that came from renewables. In fact of that we imported 0% was from renewable. It is a £5 solution to the million pound problem.
Iain Murray there is clearly no reasoning with you is there. How can more pollution being released in the mining and manufacturing process that an internal combustion motorbike produces in its lifetime not be as damaging? You have been sucked in by the EV gravy train. Please do your own research and then you will realise how wrong you are.
Iain Murray, you're right and altypeRR is so very wrong!
As the grid gets cleaner, EVs become greaner! Even right now, they are far better for the environment than their piston equivalents.
He's the real problem (putting all your very good valid points aside). The resale value on these e-bikes is gonna be atrocious, truly bad! Who would buy a 3 year old electrical bike when you know the batteries are gonna be close to shot? The batteries have a terrible life span and cost the earth to replace. It would also seriously hurt this bikes batteries to put it to bed for the winter.
How much did you spend, unnecessarily on coffee at all your stops? I'd be raging if I couldn't get home on time because I was waiting for a 'charge'! In 5 to 10 years this will be a moot point however, as there are innovations on a new tech (filling Li-on batteries with silicon instead of graphine) that will give you a 80% - 90% charge in 2 mins! Then we can talk!
Excellent review, thanks
My buddy had a brand new electric motorcycle. It was the one that had the manual clutch and six speed transmission. Someone on a block told him to leave his Key in the on position to totally discharge the battery overnight. That would enable his battery to take more of a charge the next day and give him better range. So he did it
What really happened was, the electric motorcycle battery would not take a charge again. He called the factory after checking everything you could think of, and they ran him through a checklist of tests. After a while the engineer on the other end of the phone told my friend that his battery was toast.. he also said it was in danger of exploding all by itself in that state and to wheel the motorcycle out of his building..
so my friend asked so what do I do how much is a new battery where do I get one. I told him a new battery cost is $42,000.. just so there’s no confusion here I’m going to spell it out.. forty two thousand dollars .. my friend thought they were kidding. He pointed out to the engineer that he could buy a whole new motorcycle with a new battery in it for only $21,000. How can that be..
he didn’t get an answer, he didn’t buy a new battery either. He searched on the Internet for a couple years hopefully he would locate a crashed Brahma motorcycle that took the same battery. None never turned up so we ended up selling the motorcycle as a parts bike on eBay
there was talk about the cost of electric vehicle batteries dropping as manufacturing techniques improved. The opposite is the actual truth. Three materials needed for making electric vehicle batteries are, copper, the price of copper is not going to come down. Copper is too useful in too many ways. Lithium, lithium is tough to find, and it costs about $7500 a ton..a ton sounds like a lot but actually it’s only about six or eight wheelbarrels full.. then there’s cobalt. Cobalt is around $70-$80,000 a ton..
when my friends electric motorcycle was running. It was more of a novelty. He couldn’t carry passengers. he couldn’t go more than 50 miles from home because, it was 50 miles back to the charger.
when a group of us plan to go riding on a Saturday or a Sunday for the day, he would sometimes show up where we would meet first thing in the morning for breakfast before heading out onto the road. And when we went to eat breakfast and be on our way, he didn’t go with us, he had to turn around and go home. Sometimes as early as 9 AM is riding day would be over if he rode his electric bike that day
One other little thing
I am retired from the electric generation business. And some of our meetings about planning the integration of the electric grid the future load on the system ECT. California came up several times. A startling fact was mentioned.
if every car in California was an electric vehicle at this moment. Every bit of generation of electricity in the entire state including solar, wind, Hydro, fossil fuel, atomic power was combined and dedicated to just charging car batteries of electric vehicles. that means no electricity for anything like infrastructure, traffic lights, schools, water treatment plants, hospitals, malls, homes, nothing else getting electricity being generated in the entire state except electric cars, there’s not a chance that every bit of generation capacity in California can possibly satisfy the demand of that load of just electric vehicles. The load on the electric grid in California is at times too much for the system now. That’s why they have brown outs, rolling blackouts during heat waves now.. The grid in California cannot possibly sustain the additional load of Electric vehicles
Dude, build one...I would use some LiFePo4's, High RPM motor and install this on a mobility scooter like some guy on you tube, and get 80 mph out of her...Talk about a sleeper...
No need for a license, taxes or registration...That is the future...
Sounds like a screaming fireball waiting to happen! Though if @ColinFurze built it, I'd ride it (he's only up the road).
@@bennettsbikesocial Just F.Y.I...
Scooter
ua-cam.com/video/gWYRhaOd1PE/v-deo.html
Rivian Vehicle
ua-cam.com/video/QMfxJEfb4lw/v-deo.html
Cheers.
when 3 wheels ? when 4 wheels (like the Quadro Qooder = yes I live in a rainy and snowy region) ? when a roof so no helmet anymore (like the scooter BMW C1) ? when can I get removable big batteries so I can park at home and in a restaurant ? I want to drive on highways in Germany (unlimited so 200km/h will be great), the size in great as I can park everywhere.
Nice bike but.. I got my NC700X for £5k new, I'm getting 75.25 mpg, have spent 2343.40 on fuel over 30792 miles. £13.49k (the difference in the bike price) buys me 5.76 * 30792 = 177,257 more miles. It doesn't even make sense for commuting.
I'm 47, I don't give a crap about kilowatts and all that electrical engineering bs, what matters to me is range, charge time, price, and something I've yer to hear any electric bike review mention which is physical size. I'm 6 foot 3 and the vast majority of electric bikes look tiny, they look the same size as a supersport 300, with the exception of the Livewire which is just ridiculously expensive. I use my Triumph sprint st for my 20 mile commute, I rarely go for a weekend blast anymore but I do occasionally travel to my in-laws 150 miles away on it but that's a rarety.
quote from Harley Davidson's CEO about electric bikes: "it's not about what you're not hearing... it's about what you're now hearing!" he expects Harley to sell more ev bikes than ice bikes within the next decade. & that's coming from the CEO of Harley Davidson!
So you are saying that riding that electric is as much fun as riding your MT-10? I'm sorry, but I don't believe that. Look at the crap you had to go through. No way am I going to ride like that. And that stupid, RC car sound. Disgusting. Twist-and-go? Give me a break. I have ridden electrics. They are lifeless. Having said that, the one area where I can get behind E-bikes is electric off road bikes like the Alta Redshift. Now that is a bad ass bike. But I personally cannot do an E-bike for the road. That is not the experience I want to have.
When I go for a run on my GSX, I can go for 200 miles without even worrying about it. And then 4 minutes later, I'm good for another 200. Not 4 hours later. Electric just won't cut it for me. Especially at current price points. In that regard they are kind of a joke. If that is the future of motorcycling the future is bleak. But you go on, John - dump your MT-10 for that thing. Fortunately I have enough evil petrol bikes in the stable to keep me riding until I can ride no more.
If you have £18000 to drop on a small whim bike then fuel vs electricity savings is not your concern at all. For the price difference you could ride your small Honda around the world and not see a savings that would justify 18000 for a poorly constructed plastic bike.
It is a road bike for neurotics. Will I make it!!??!!. What's it doing that for??!!??. It slowed down in the middle of a pass.!$%&*%%*&-%$&@&-+!!!! The number went up, oh suddenly down. Is there a charger? Is it good or slow? Do I have the app? What my phone won't connect? Will another EV be using it. Oh this one is basically a house outlet for £7.
Can the bird on her mobile hear me before she cuts me off?
It also gets you to buy stuff. Sitting for 2-3 hours means you must spend. Putting a charger in a hotel or business lot means you go in and buy stuff, eat, shop to kill time. When you have a road bike to enjoy the OUTDOORS not the inside of some spending cathedral ! Sort of eats up those mileage cost savings, literally.
It may be a great city bike, but so is a transit ticket and a bus or train. You can take a 50cc moped on a 130 mile road trip and use just over a gal of petrol, but should you? If I rode it in the city, I would expect the same dangers as I experience on a silent bicycle.
Here(Canada) it's illegal to ride between cars,
...my thoughts exactly...I don't see how this is safe at all...the term is called "lane splitting"...very dangerous.
all it needs is for the price to come down and the range to go up a bit and I'm sold ..... if that bike right now was £12K with at least a genuine 100 to 120 mile range with spirited riding I'd trade my MT07 in against one today .... give it a couple of years and we'll be there ;)
I so want one of these but the range & more importantly the charge time just kills it for me. What would have happened if you had got to the charge point and it wasn't working or 2 cars / bikes were already there? I have 3 electric cars ranging from 40 miles to 300 miles (on a hot sunny day) but electric bikes are just not there yet. Pity.
I had a GSXR 750 K7 Fuel light on at 90 miles. So range is not far of from big sports bikes. Early days, double range and charging down to 10 minutes and it'll be very usable. Early days, ICE engines have had 100 years of development. Under 10k I would consider it. I live on the Isle of Wight so range not an issue.
ZAPMAP APP is very useful, shows all the charge points locations and types available in UK which currently is more than the amount of traditional ice petrol stations.. For myself when the eV bikes can be like a kawasaki versus 1000 then I would swap. current bikes including the Damon electric bike are for just the rider only really, I need to be able to go two up with fully loaded proper size luggage with good range then yep No questions I would swap. more and more manufacturers are coming on board but as yet it's only possibly Kawasaki, triumph, KTm are the only Main manufacturers are looking to make eV bikes Aswell as their current ice motorcycles.
I would buy such emotorcycle, but I need a range of 2x55km for work, and >400km for the Alpes and day trips. So it is only a perfect 2nd Bike, but for this far too expensive.
Electrics DEFINATELY have a future, though don't underestimate how long combustion powered vehicles will be around unless there is a broad adoption of combustion powered vehicle bannings & or restrictions. I can imagine combustion engines vehicles being manufactured in large quantities after the next several decades, say 30 to 50 years.
Range is only determind by the fuel you put in and at £2 a ltr = 40-50 miles ....£2 of electric =100-160 mile most bikes sit in garages or sheds most the time ,best time to charge them and ready for that unmatched acceleration and fun
The price maybe high 20k but compered to say a Indian chief 25k or similar then there not so high priced, just price up a new bike its madness
Price will come down! Purchased hybrid car 9 years ago, £25,500, the equivalent car price today is £23,500. We need more people buying electric vehicles to drive prices down 👍👍👍
How long 'til some scumbag pinches the charging cable. I'm in the market for one of these but not with a 50 Mile range... It would need to be at least double that.. I could then work around the charging time... especially if someone else pays for it!
I love it. I want to ride stealthy and I don’t like noisy bikes. Realistically, for me, I’d like an electric dirt bike and I’d want a very light one. Let’s say 100-120kg. I’ve got trails within 5km of my home so I don’t need huge range. More range equals more weight. I work from home so no commuting is invloved.
I definitely see an e-bike in my feature.
I believe the recharge time will keep electric bikes from becoming the norm.
THIS. Kiss long weekend trips goodbye. In a city I can see them as ok but even then I wonder. With no sound you decrease your road presence even more
@@nbgaf1040 The speed is only going up. THe new 2020 Energica can fully charge its 21kwh tank in under an hour. That is several times faster than this Zero. Give it a few more years and we will have 100+kwh chargers available for electric motorcycles.
Good and fair review. But this is just a bit more than a city commuter bike. I live in rural western Massachusetts (USA). My daily commute is not a short urban commute, but it falls within this bike's range. Truth be told, I rarely go much further in a day even when I'm just having fun. Yes, those who do will need to wait for the next generation of electric bikes. But they will be here soon. This bike would satisfy the needs of more people than you think right now though. And every year from now on, the electric bikes are going to keep getting better. In 20 years, gasoline-powered bikes will be a novelty. I'll still love them (the sound and feel), but they won't be ubiquitous anymore.
You said the noise is relaxing then. Play the most disconcerting disjointed music, so tooth jarring It totally distracted from the images of the bike. The bike though, was a great looking thing ! Unfortunately, we all love the sound of a V twin motor or a BSA purring away.
I hope not
I like the entry level Zero, perhaps graphene will be introduced and greatly extend the life of the battery and perhaps the range, or solid state batteries, can't see a move on from lithium oxide any time soon. Hydrogen? Too much faff, only used in a tiny part of the US. So £8-9K I think for the entry Zero, removable batteries to deter casual thieves, just think graphene will shoot up the prices though, which are pretty high right now anyway. I'd get a e push bike for the moment for city use and await developments. Or splash out on the entry one.
I liked the review. A lot. You ride like a maniac, which is good. (A skilled maniac.) It reminded me so much of blasting my Blackbird around the twisties at scary speed with ear plugs to make it silent. Still get goose bumps and you reminded me. Thanks.