EVT Z20 arrived! Pics and impressions

NOW AF, go find that elusive 120/80-10

Did you just bark an order at me?

I prefer to think of it as more of a challenge than an order, since you DID find the 110/90-10

I have called several places and they never heard of the 120/80-10

Hey guys,
I've been out of the country for the last week. Before leaving, I sent another email to EVT about my acceleration issue after I was told to "be patient". Got home, no reply. Sent them another email, still no reply. Guess I'll be trying to call them today. The issue with my R-20, is that as soon as you let off the break, it takes off and will climb to 20 mph without even touching the throttle, then when turning the throttle, it will only reach about 30 mph and then actually lose power at the end of the throttle turning. I really like the look of the bike, just wish it was working properly. It seems that most peoples problems are caused by a bad controller, you'd think they could send out a new controller, we'd reinstall it and be up and running.

Just wanted ot reply, corroborate, that my experience is the same, in regard to this waitng process, and that the symptoms on my R-20 are the same, break release, acceleration-- all thet, except my scooter can only reach about 15 mph.

Thanks for coming on board to share Davy.

I think we can provide a reliable 3 phase 60V controller at around Usd150/pc.Could anyone open a EVTA motor and let me have a look the inside structure ? Could anyone put on current meter and tell me EVT's start current and climbing current......So that I can make a controller matching the structure.

No matter Erato or Efun or my new factory....our controller never broken since 2006.

Anyone need my support,take free to send me a mail mountain.chen [at] gmail.com

We don't expect the growing market of EV being damaged.

Spoke to Andy today. He believes that there is a wiring problem and will be sending an email with pics on how to fix the problem. Hopefully this will do the trick.

hello ya'll.

i just found this forum and wanted to chime in. i got my z-20a delivered here in austin, tx, new year's eve with a 1 hour advance notice. there was another z-20 in the truck. i took lots of photos of everything and was super excited to unpack and test it. after getting it all put together and on the street the first thing i noticed was the rear brake was rubbing badly... also when given a quick full throttle the scooter would jump forward and stop... i had to give it a gradual throttling to get it going at which point it was really fast. i contacted EVT about the issue immediately and they've been very good so far but when i went to troubleshoot the next morning after a couple throttle turns the whole thing died. to make a long story short... it appears my scooter was manhandled in the shipping process and the entire frame is bent to crap. the rear wheel doesn't line up with the rest of the scooter and body panels are tweaked. i'm gonna chalk this one up to extremely poor handling during shipping so i'm not sure what impact that had on the rest of the components. given that the scooter is bent so badly, EVT has agreed to ship me a replacement since there isn't much else i can do with it. i expect i'll get the scooter before valentine's day and i'll let ya'll know how it goes.

aside from that... i'd like to meet the other z-20 owners in austin so we can help each other out.

garret

With respect to the shipping problems, EVTA told me that in many cases bikes would move between as many as 6 different trucks before arriving at someone's doorstep. Supposedly during the many unloading and loading processes, coupled with an incorrect pallet, the bikes were subject to being dropped and flipped.

Here comes my speculation: Considering that the bikes were very securely placed in the metal frame, this would explain why things could have been so severely banged up on the inside with no visible damage on the outside. There was little to no play inside my metal box and can imagine that whatever impact that the frame took went straight into the guts of the bike.

More of my speculation: I don't believe Schnecker is the sole source of shipping. I think that they contract out to various different shippers after the bikes arrive in the US. It is these smaller contractors that are responsible for the poor handling of the bikes. My bike was delivered by BaxGlobal.

A last bit of conjecture: MLH's shipping frame had a wicked bend in it. I don't believe it was supposed to be like that as my frame was totally straight. It's durable but cheap metal and I doubt that his particular crate was designed with that bend. Also, take a look at Brock's shipping crate, it doesn't have full pallet and it's bent to hell. I think shipping was HUGE factor as to why so many East Cost bikes crapped out. 23 out of 24 that went to Bermuda were problem free, likely because they never had to ride on a truck since China.

EEeeeeewwwwww,

Speculation and Conjecture from DC...
I expected my response to be...

Judge Chamberlain Haller: That is a lucid, intelligent, well thought-out position.
Vinny Gambini: Thank you, sir.
Judge Chamberlain Haller: OVERRULED!!!.

However, I may agree with everything point he made.

SCAREY SUSTAINED !!!!

I get shipments at work from other time zones, long haul trucks often drop at local transfer companies. That is where most of my shipping issues originate. Long haul drivers drive as a profession, many of the short haul transfer guys have less experience loading, handling, driving. I have had some guys flat-out not read the explicit delivery instructions. So, I think you make some very good points.
Packing hardware is always difficult. Look closely at a car trailor next time you go past a dealer, they secure the cars pretty well, but the entire platform is designed to absorb all kinds of jolts and bumps. They do not bind door handles to the truck trailer.
Also, if this isn't enough, go back and look at the pictures of those guys packing those boxes into the truck in china and tell me they did not drop any. More speculation for you.

I would agree with Don. We have a lot of things come in here by truck and most trucks are not "air ride". If you have ever been in the back of a regular semi trailer when moving you wouldn't believe how bumpy, harsh or jarring it is. On my bike there wasn't any weight on the wheels, it rocked back and forth from the front to back wheels sitting on the center steel crate support under the kick stand. I can just imagine it bouncing up off the steel in to the air and slamming back down on the steel again. If the weight had been on the wheels the shocks and tires would have taken the hits, but this was not the case.

As a side note, it is WAY to cold to mess with my bike right now, so there it sits. We had a high Sunday of -3F (-20C) and a low of -13F (-25C) and I don't want to work on it in an unheated space and I can't get it to a heated one right now.

gowens or anyone else that knows,

Could you detail the parts used and where you found them for your bank charger. It's looks great, and I'ld like to do the same.

Specifically:
- What is the connector you used and where did you find it?
- What gauge wire should be used from the barrier strip to the connector?
- Where did you find the terminal block/barrier strip?

I went to a couple automotive stores, hardware stores, and Radio Shack. None had a connector, except 5 pole/pin trailer hookups. The closest barrier strip I found had open screw connections on the top (not inserting wires into the strip).

The connector is a 12 pin Molex from Radio Shack at least mine are, male and female, in the slideout trays in the back.

The barrier strip is a European Style also from the shack, they have two, small and large, get the large

Wire, best best is Walmart, trailer section

25 foot roll of 4 conductor trailer wiring wire that can be stripped into 2 or whatever you want. 20 bucks

Or, just rolls of black and red from Lowes, just standard auto wire for power hookups, you will max at 6 amps. Red wire costs more than black, don't know why.

The black wire sheaths CABLE LOOMS, LOWES is best source, electrical.

In the TV section they have a HUGE loom that will cover the huger charger cabling, in the electrical section smaller looms for inside the bike.

Chargers are from here

Pics on how I did it are here

mikejuv - This info may help...

-----------

The chargers are Vector model 1086B. Search around for the best price.
I used this site... (about $32/ea) I think someone else found them for $29

Vector VEC1086B 2/4/6 Amp 12 Volt Smart Battery Charger

-----------

As for the connector. I bought the 12 pin Molex but decided to look for a
more solid solution. So I went to a military surplus place and found just
what I was looking for... ($20)

17 - pin connector

-----------

I used 16 gauge red/black spool wire from Radio Shack. According to
several sites, 16 gauge is more than big enough for short runs of 2, 4, or 6 amps...

Wire Gauge and Current Limit Table

-----------

The connector strip is from Radio Shack... ($6)

12-Position European-Style Terminal Strip

-----------

gowens,

Thanks for detailed parts list on the bank charging setup.

Do you know what gage wire that military surplus connector will handle? I'd like to use 14 gage, or even 12, based on this wire chart: http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

Your wire chart has about the same values, yet I read it as needing 14 AWG wire for 5.9 amps. I'm also using 2-4-6 charger and want to be able to use the 6 amp setting. I'm using the power transmission column, which is very different than the max amps column. for 16 AWG, 22 amps vs. 3.7 amps.

Also, what size flex cable will fit that connector? I assume you just got some at Home Depot or equivalent.

My Z20b is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I'll be setting up my Z20b for bank charging soon after. I'll be checking the gage of wire on the batteries too, and may upgrade if they are too small.

Also, are you planning on conditioning the batteries? Just curious.

-= Alan

16 is fine for the short runs used at 6 amp charge, no heat

at 10 amps they get a little warm but not hot

at 20 amps, they get hot

usatracy - Thanks, the table said the amperage rating was conservative. It's nice to have some empirical data.

What we need is to find the right MIL C 5015 10 pin connector

Tyco

ITT

astar

The solder connectors on the plug/socket mentioned should take 14 gauge.
The flex tubing to hold the wires can also be purchased from Radio Shack.
They have black. I found this silver one at fryes (thought it would look cool :).

After several short trips and charging to break in the batteries, I
finally gave my R-20 the ultimate test.

When I had a Vespa ET-2 it strained to get up one long steep hill
so I was interested to see if this machine could pull it off.

I am glad to announce that the R-20 took my 260 lbs. up the hill
very well. According the the speedometer (not sure how accurate)
I was going at least 25-28 the whole time.

So far the R-20 does everything the Vespa did (without the noise).

I am impressed.