Has the perfect city bike/commuter arrived??

14K makes no sense for me, especially not with the motorcycle unfriendly laws in our neck of woods. It's really only good for the short commute, but would in no way let me get rid of one car. So, since I have to pay the lovely car insurance anyway I am better off just to commute in my car and enjoy the comfort especially in colder/wet months.

If I ever moved to the core and worked there and the the government would allow lane split and park free and the cost would drop under 10K I might be a game .... A long list of if's ....
 
What's it cost to replace batt.?

The only electric i have ridden is the EM5.7 trialer.A battery is about $2500 for it.Electrics are not viable yet for anything but a short commute.
 
Sorry Joe. I am sure Kevin will LOVE the idea of not there is always Robert to fall back on..lol

But also connect the solar power to the battery so it can charge while sitting idle all day..

Don't get people started! It's my new "get rich" scheme. I'm going to sell solar powered speakers that wire into the speed gauge of the ebike, then emit matching loud exhaust sounds through said speakers! $$$$ cha-ching! Shark Tank that $#!t
 
The only electric i have ridden is the EM5.7 trialer.A battery is about $2500 for it.Electrics are not viable yet for anything but a short commute.

Zero S has 300 km range.

They are fun bikes to ride, but the cost is way to high for what you get. When Musk's mega factory comes online the price of these batteries will drop in half, which is what Harley is waiting for with Livewire.
 
Sorry Joe. I am sure Kevin will LOVE the idea of not there is always Robert to fall back on..lol

But also connect the solar power to the battery so it can charge while sitting idle all day..

You would need a massive solar array to do that.
 
The specs on the the bike original post indicate a 70 mile range. I'm assuming that's with minimal traffic. The range makes it a commuter not a tourer


The specs on the Zero FX indicate that is the best possible case with the added battery pack. It all goes downhill from there.

[TABLE="class: specs zero-fx my-2015 specs-variants-2, width: 820"]
[TR]
[TD="class: modelheader modelheader-label"]RANGE[/TD]
[TD="class: modelheader modelheader-var var0, align: right"]ZERO FX ZF2.8[/TD]
[TD="class: modelheader modelheader-var var1, align: right"]ZERO FX ZF5.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"]City
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]35 miles (56 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]70 miles (113 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"]Highway, 55 mph (89 km/h)
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]22 miles (35 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]44 miles (71 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"] » Combined
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]27 miles (43 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]54 miles (87 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"]Highway, 70 mph (113 km/h)
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]15 miles (24 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]30 miles (48 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"] » Combined
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]21 miles (34 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]42 miles (68 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
 
Zero S has 300 km range.

Yes and no.

[TABLE="class: specs zero-s my-2015 specs-variants-3, width: 820"]
[TR]
[TD="class: modelheader modelheader-label"]RANGE[/TD]
[TD="class: modelheader modelheader-var var0, align: right"]ZERO S ZF9.4[/TD]
[TD="class: modelheader modelheader-var var1, align: right"]ZERO S ZF12.5[/TD]
[TD="class: modelheader modelheader-var var2, align: right"]ZERO S ZF12.5 +POWER TANK[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"]City
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]113 miles (182 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]151 miles (243 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]185 miles (298 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"]Highway, 55 mph (89 km/h)
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]70 miles (113 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]94 miles (151 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]115 miles (185 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"] » Combined
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]87 miles (140 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]115 miles (185 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]141 miles (227 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"]Highway, 70 mph (113 km/h)
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]58 miles (93 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]77 miles (124 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]94 miles (151 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: item2"] » Combined
zmtip-trans.png
[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]76 miles (122 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]102 miles (164 km)[/TD]
[TD="class: detail2, align: right"]125 miles (201 km)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
 
The tech is getting incrementally better and Zero has survived for a few years, so that's encouraging. I doubt they will benefit from Musk's mega-battery plant unless he absorbs them. Maybe that's the plan, who knows? Musk wants the profits his battery suppliers make as much as he wants the Model 3 to be affordable. At this stage, without a serious commitment to infrastructure or standardized modular batteries, EVMs need to push that price down any way they can. IF it's cheap enough, the general urban public could be persuaded to overlook the limitations. I'm in the target audience (20km round trip, 50km/h avg. speed) but price matters. Vehicles are lousy depreciating assets.
 
Gonna repost this from another forum

This is designed around a suburban or ex urban commuter
This to a 30 mile round trip commuter.

You don't fit the model - you don't ride enough and your fuel is too cheap.

Double your ride, double your fuel cost as the rest of the world deals with ( and many regions ride year round including Australia and most of Europe even into parts of Scandavia. )

You also are not counting your maintenance costs other than tires for an ICE engine.
4 litres of Castrol motorcycle oil in Australia costs $35 for instance.
Last year fuel in Australia was $7 a gallon....$1.75 per litre and that's cheap compared to other places ( Iceland $2.40 US per litre - $10 a gallon and about the same in Britain. )
a 100 km round trip commute ...that's $50 a trip in fuel costs...$250 a week!!!

It's not for everyone but as with all early techs....it is approaching and is at a useful point for some.....then there are the pluses.....performance, weight and quiet and carbon neutral for fuel if you have that option in your area ( in all cases its way more efficient than an ICE engine in terms of energy from fossil. ) For us in Ontario we are pretty much carbon neutral ( no coal ) and Sweden and France are entirely....and both with very high petrol costs.
Those are all important to some.

In Copenhagen - the tax on say a $8000 ICE scooter is....are you sitting down...180% of the purchase price...so some $22,000 dollars out the door.
And fuel costs about $9 per gal.
There is no tax on EVs.

If Zero offered this at $99 a month 5 year lease to own with $1000 down with a modest buy out you can bet there would be a lot of takers.

New tech is often leased initially.

•••

Electric tourer.??..I think that does not make sense - and really can you get any quieter than a GoldWing??
The problem with pollution is the suburban commuter doing 2-300 miles per week often idling in traffic. There are millions of cars doing this.

A tourer needs range and quick refuel both of which are 5-10 years out for a heavy bike.
The current crop of tourers are pretty efficient and ICE is certainly not going away.
But jammed places like Japan and big cities....EVs are brilliant solutions.

Add in PHEVs ( hybrids ) and even now there are 1/2 million sold out of 16.5 million total vehicle sales....and that's not counting Ebikes.

Worldwide PHEV And EV Sales Top 500,000 - Gas 2
gas2.org/2014/07/14/worldwide-phev-and-ev-sales-top-500000/
Jul 14, 2014 - ... and EV's worldwide passed the 500,000 mark at the end of June, 2014. ... is second, China third and the Netherlands fourth in total EV sales.
 
zero sr has 106 ft lb of torque

For the majority of riding I do it'd be prefect.

however the $20k price tag is umm yeah.

I'd be buying it for the experience not to try to save $ over a gasoline bike.



 
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My neighbours went through this same math and ended up with a Nissan Leaf.

There's an incentive program where its something like $8500 down and $150 a month.

Theres also government subsidies of $8500 and theyll cover the cost of the fast charger in your garage.

The subsidy covers the upfront payment and they say that they save at least $150 in gas a month.

Free car they say. The husband uses it for his 30k each way commute and has been doing so for a year without issue. Charge it over night, but he says he uses about half the charge during the commute.

So for $150.00/month, $0.00 down and I can own a Nissan Leaf ... sounds a little out-there. Why don't we see them by the hundreds?
 
Free car .... LOL ... yeah sure.

So after you are done paying 150$/month for x amount of years .... then what?? I am sure at the low monthly rate the car is not yours, you will owe money and it probably will need a battery replacement. One of those never ending lease programs or pony up.

I am not going to go into the fact that the Leaf is even for a commuter ... very blunt car. Like a box on four tiny wheels ...
 
Zero S has 300 km range.

The trouble is that you can either have range, or you can have speed, but you cannot have both.

The technology is improving, it is on the verge of becoming good enough for most people, although still pretty expensive.

I have little doubt that in 20 years, there will be fast-charging stations with public access everywhere that there are gasoline filling stations now, charging stations will be standard equipment (probably required) in new housing construction including in apartment garages, and it will be pretty much as convenient to use an EV for normal transportation as it is to use a combustion-engine vehicle now, the only possible exception may be with travel to remote areas, and on long trips you'll need longer stops. Obviously we're not there yet, but it's coming.
 
I'd rather have a CBR500R as a commuter and suffer no range anxiety as I would with an electric.
 
You don't own the leaf under that program its a lease. $8500 down and $150 per month after that. I think that the subsidy is paid out over a few years, so it take awhile to get that upfront back, but they say they'll get it all back. And they're saving more than $150 per month in gas so they say free car, TO USE.

Google it if you're interested.
 
Right, I get it. So my point was that you never own the car ... so you will be in this "lease forever" mode and never own any of those vehicles. So there's a cost somehow people don't count. I don't have a problem keeping a car for 8 years or more nowadays. So after 5 years it's mine and it's an actual car, not box on wheels.

Don't get me wrong, some of the electric cars I wouldn't mind to own, but not really pay for yet. The cost of ownership is still very high regardless how the financing comes, even with a hefty government rebate who collects the money back through ever increasing electricity rates paid by everyone.

Well done hybrid is I think much better step .... but that will never happen with bikes obviously, so the gap is much larger to bridge.
 
But when you're getting your upfront back and the monthly is covered by gas savings, who cares if you dont own it.

I pay cash for my cars so Im onside with you, but if you get that upfront payment back from the gov't, and you have no monthly due to gas savings, you're not stuck in a lease forever mode because you've made no investment.
 
You are assuming that this "deal" will be there every time you need to replace the car (battery in pure electric's case), if that's the case, than you are correct ... as long as you don't mind driving something like Leaf around.
 
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