EVT Z20 arrived! Pics and impressions

Any status on what the problem is ?

How about your neighbors bike - how is it doing ?

Enquiring minds want to know !

Thanks for taking the time to keep us all informed.

I assume racermike meant 20 degreed Fahrenheit? This seems like a unnecessary feature. Cold-weather use affects the effective capacity and maximum amps the battery can produce, but it doesn't damage them - in fact is good for them from a cycle life perspective.

This malfunction is a shame. For starters, you are going to need a multimeter, and be ready to take a few things apart in order to proceed with any troubleshooting.

The slow speed during the first ride gives the suggestion of a bad controller.

While it takes 10-20 charge cycles to bet the full capacity out of the batteries, the only reason a battery would be "sluggish" is if it is completely discharged.

While it takes 10-20 charge cycles to bet the full capacity out of the batteries, the only reason a battery would be "sluggish" is if it is completely discharged.

My personal experience is that batteries do perform poorly under high amp loads (with a big voltage drop) until cycled at least once when new. This seems to be true even if you first charge them. And if you let them sit for a month or longer they will perform poorly until cycled again. I don't have any references to support this.

"Cycled"?

What exactly is a charge cycle? Full charge to 0? It's late and I'm not understanding this. :(

Technically, a cycle could be any amount of discharge followed by a recharge. For the purposes of this thread, my guess is that you shouldn't expect the best performance until you cycle your lead-acid batteries to at least 30% discharge two to three times.

While on topic, there is a major concern that one battery (or the cell in one battery) could be bad if the top speed is so low, and this would result in resistance to current flow. I wouldn't be surprised. It's not uncommon to get bad new batteries. A DC resistance of each individual battery could quickly determine which one is bad. You could use each one to start your car if you have nothing else to check them.

there is a major concern that one battery (or the cell in one battery) could be bad if the top speed is so low

Yup, I had significantly dimished top speed going on and finally dsicovered one realy bad battery in my pack.

Got my R-20 today. They tried to delivery it a couple of days ago, but I wasn't at home. Yes, it is packed very securely, not a scratch on it. Not too difficult to unpack, though lifting it off the crate takes some effort if you're doing it by yourself. Seems to work just fine. I'm not riding it hard just yet, since I'll be breaking in the batteries and setting up a bank charging system. All in all, I'm happy with it. Peace out.

I got my z20b on New Year's Eve. The delivery guy didn't call to set up a time, like they had said they would. Fortunately, I was home. The bike arrived in good shape. No damage due to delivery. I've taken it for two short test drives. Everything works just fine. My only problem has been the lack of documentation describing the various features of the bike and no assembly instructions. But the EVTA brothers have been very responsive - even to the extent of replying the same day to e-mails I sent New Years.

I'm waiting to receive my papers so I can have the bike inspected and registered.

BTW, I live in a suburb outside of Dallas. I got a tracking number from Schenker so that I could watch the progress of my shipment from Seattle. So, on New Year's Eve morning I knew the bike had arrived in Dallas. For those of you still waiting for your bikes, I suggest you do the same, since you can't rely on getting notified by phone.

Hey fcherny. Yea, the same guys who delivered my bike delivered yours; he remembered you and the motorcycle Same situation, didn't call, just showed up. I called EVTA today, just to make sure I had set up everything correctly and he walked me through the start-up procedure. BTW for those of you getting an R-20, there is a little black button on the right side near the throttle that says "start". Don't press this, it's an ejector seat, just kidding; it's actually a kill switch which shuts down the bike except for a loud irritating high pitched screaming noise. I began to take apart the bike to rewire, break-in the batteries, and set up a set of bank of chargers, then said screw-it. I'll just break it by riding it gently and low miles at first. When these batteries go, perhaps I'll do the rewire and bank charging thing since I'm going to have to take apart the bike at that time to get the dead batteries out. Call me lazy, but I thought I might just enjoy the bike first, Lord knows we've been waiting long enough for it.

My bike doesn't arrive until next week (according to Schenker) so I am eating up each and every testimony that you guys are giving on the forum. How does it ride? Are you guys taking it up to 35+ mph yet? Hill performance? Chargers turning off when they're supposed to?

I also plan on breaking in the batteries the "lazy" way with short, slow rides with recharging in-between. Any more info you guys can give to help fight off waiting in anticipation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Sure thing, it's a very smooth and quiet ride. Acceleration is brisk, almost too quick, guess just gotta get use to driving it. As soon as you let off the brake, it starts going. So the first time you start it up make sure it up on its support or you have your hand on the brake. Trying not to accelerate too much, but did go up to 30 mph without even trying. My wife took me for a ride (me riding bitch; since it's actually her bike) and it is still quite quick with both of us on it. Take care.

I just got my Zapino and wanted to wire in Bank Charging and Paktrakr but any modifications will void the warranty. What will EVT allow you do add or modify?

Woke up this morning after charging the bike overnight and...... it's still running fine. The charger shut down/went to trickle mode after the batteries were full. So far so good.

anyone test the range of Z-20 ?

Is it single speed throttle or 2 speed throttle ?

It is single speed.

Now that's how a scooter is suppose to be packed!

I totally agree AF. Imported a Kasea ZE-2000 and it was packed exactly like this. Front wheel to an angle, held inside angle-iron frame, handlebars secured by tying off in opposite directions. It was a pleasure to unpack and I knew as I started to unpack it that no damage was possible. A smart solution so well done EVT.

Again, kudos re tool-kit and charger as pjd and Andrew have said. I hope the bike lives up to expectations. So far, it sounds worthy of respect.

I took mine out for a short ride (about 2 miles) last night after work. It was my first time for a night ride. Everything worked great (acceleration, smooth ride). But the odometer was hard to read. The lighting makes it hard to see the markings. Also, when I was done, I noticed the battery charge was down by over 1/4th. I'm not sure if that's an indication of a possible range problem. I'll need to do more testing. Aside from that, everything works great.

Since night riding requires more energy for lights, etc, could this have contributed to the batter meter decreasing by so much after a short ride? Can't imagine that the head light, tail lights, and whatever meter illumination would take up very much elec compared to the motor, but it may be a contributing factor.

It could be that and the fact that I'm 185 (not 160 as per the EVT web site) and the wind was blowing hard and who knows what else.

I'll run the exact same route this weekend during the day and compare the results.

I haven’t looked yet but I wonder how the lights are tapped off the battery pack, if they are just one of the 12v batteries or down converting from 60v. If it is just tapped off one battery that is even more reason to some balance the charging.

The headlights and other 12 volt consumers run off a 250 watt 60 volt to 12 volt transformer most probably located between your feet in that compartment on the floor, so max amp load from 12 volt consumers is only 5 if you max out the transformer, bike is pulling 45 to 60 so lights are at max only 10%, but they are less than than, a lot less.

The reason your meter drops so quick is twofold...

1- The batteries will not reach capacity until they have been cycled, anywhere from 4 to 20 cycles depending on the battery and load.

2- They were not started out on a good low amperage break-in process to "etch" the virgin lead plates machined surfaces for maximum amp draw with max efficiency, too late to do that now, you etched huge deep valleys instead of many the small narrow shallow valleys one would prefer.

Oh, there is a 3 too, you are supposed to fully charge the batteries and let them sit at least 12 hours before running them down the road if you aren't going to break them in first.

The headlights and other 12 volt consumers run off a 250 watt 60 volt to 12 volt transformer most probably located between your feet in that compartment on the floor

usatracy, did you buy a Z-20 as well?

No, I did not buy a Z.

My Bank Charging Station is ready
Now all I need is a scooter to hook it up to !

Very clean looking! Nice work!

What 12v charger is that?

Looks good, never got round to putting mine on the board, still sitting on the floor :)

Very nice job. You'll have to do a write up on your re-wiring of your bike. I started to take mine apart, then realized I should wait for someone more technical to do this first.

You will like LOVE those chargers.

We rode 28 miles today and did a midpoint recharge using string chargers, then, when we got back, put the blue bike on the bank charger and the red bike on a string charger.

The bank was set at 4 amp and the string 5.5 amp.

The bank charger beat the string charger and was almost fully twice as fast, which is what VECTOR claims for those chargers using their proprietary charge algo's.

If I ran it at 6 amps like I usually do it would have been closer to 2.75 times faster.

And the one that recharged faster was also the bike that pulled the 100 pound grocery trailer, so pretty sure it used more amps.

Holy crap Gowens, that looks great. Would you mind putting a brief how to together with an ingredient list? Where do you hook to the multiple batteries?

Also, did Schnecker give you a tracking number?

FYI for all of you who think that Don Cristobal is an Electric Dunce I want let you know that I bought a book on batteries and electricitay...

Let the knowledge seep in!

The chargers, best mailorder price I found, Vector and Black and Decker are the same, pay more for the B&D name, BUT, the Vector has a 5 year warranty, the B&D only 2 years. So you pay a LOT for the B&D name.

http://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/VEC-1086B.htm

http://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/VEC-1086BBD.htm

These below are available at Lowes for about the same price as mailorder.

http://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/VEC-1087B.htm

http://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/VEC-1087C.htm