I recently had the opportunity to take a test ride on a ZEV 6100. This is my first ride on an electric scooter. ibscootn was nice enough to let me test ride his ZEV 6100 scooter.
My Background: I have been interested in electric vehicles since 2006. I currently own a Suzuki SV650 and a Honda Silverwing (600cc scooter). I have ridden Kymco and Piaggio scooters and I grew up riding a Honda Trail 50. My primary objectives in pursuing electric vehicles is for the savings in transportation costs of electric over fuel. Secondarily, reduced cost of maintenance and environmental concerns. I originally was interested in building an electric bicycle but further discussion on the forums here revealed great rebates for residents of Colorado purchasing new electric vehicles, so I switched my focus to investigating manufactured electric vehicles.
Initial impression: The scooter was silver in color and was attractive from a distance. Closer observation revealed that the bike was well constructed and fit and finish appeared to be good. The front wheel and rear hub motor are painted black to match which further sets the scooter apart and gives an appealing accent to the bike. The bike had gas shocks that added to the bikes visual presence as well. The one visual queue that quickly drew concern was the instrument panel. The orange and black gauges appear cheaply made and come up short compared to other traditional fossil fuel powered scooters in this price range. Other than the gauges, the scooter is a handsome looking machine. The battery canister was well enclosed and there is still surprising room under the seat for storage on this model.
Test Ride: My initial surprise hopping on the ZEV was how light the bike was. I expected a lot more weight from a battery powered scooter. I was warned about the ZEV's jumpy throttle response at take off - and jumpy it is! For someone who's never ridden a powered two wheeler, this will take some getting used to. The ZEV has a three speed 'transmission' that can be shifted after initial take off. It isn't at all like a traditional transmission, and I had a hard time determining what 'gear' I was in at any time. There isn't a significant change in power after shifting the transmission, and there's no indicator to tell you what 'gear' you're in. I'm sure with some experience, the gear thing would become more apparent. The ZEV does have a lot of torque at initial launch, but the power diminishes with speed, which is quite the opposite of gas powered CVT scooters that typically take off slower and gradually build power that diminishes near the top end. The scooter had disc brakes in the front and rear, and I felt confident stopping power when applying front and rear brakes. The low center of gravity makes nice turns on the bike in tight quarters and I had no problem making turns on the scooter. I reached a top speed of 45MPH according the plastic gauge. The owner indicates the speedo is 5MPH over actual speed (as tested by his GPS), so I actually hit 40. I probably had more available, but was in an unfamiliar area and didn't want to exceed the speed limit. I would compare the ZEV to a 50 or maybe 70cc 2 stroke or a 125cc 4 stroke scooter.
It's obvious that some engineering has gone into the controller and motor for the ZEV scooters, but I hope that further effort will be made on creating accurate and attractive gauges as well.
I can't compare the ZEV to other electric scooters because I haven't tested any of them. But I will say I am considering the ZEV for my EV needs, but maybe the 7100 for the additional top end.
What's to like: Initial Torque, comfortable ride, decent styling
What's not to like: jerky throttle at launch, cheap plastic gauges
I'm glad staticGenerator got a chance to ride my bike. Why he got only 40mph I don't know (maybe in second gear) but I normally ride in the 35-55mph area (max 60mph).
Regarding the instrumentation, I have tried to convince ZEV to mount the large screen Cycle Analyst in the console so the rider has an AmpHour meter, accurate speedometer, great real time stats as well as battery pack life-time stats. As per Genosensor, the Cycle Analyst can take over the throttle and make it smooth and easy for novices. I wil verify that soon enough (BTW, with a couple days pratice I was able to pass the DMV test course no problem so the throttle takes more than a test drive to get comfortable with).
To see what staticGenerator was referring to regarding the instruments, here is a link showing the OEM console with a Cycle Analyst also mounted to the handlebars:
http://visforvoltage.org/sites/default/files/u2286/zev7100ca.jpg
I really like this configuration as you get the benefit of the Cycle Analyst but should anything ever happen to the Cycle Analyst you can fall back to the console dials. I like redundancy. Currently, I have my bike apart installing halogen lamps and the Cycle Analyst as Genosensor did (waiting for the shunt to arrive in the mail). After using the Cycle Analyst for a few weeks, I will post my experiences. But briefly, the 6100 is a good around-the-city bike, but if you plan on riding highways at over 55mph or with big hills, the 7100 is the minimum bike to buy. I plan to upgrade mine from 6100 to 8500 watts next year as the bike was shipped with 8500 watt continuous rated motor.
Motorcycles: 2011 ZEV Trail 7100, 84V, 60AH, 60+mph, Cycle Analyst, TNC throttle, modified charger. 2013 Kymco GT300i
Bicycles: 2017 Sondors Thin
Cars: 2016 Leaf SV, 30KWH pack. 2007 CR-V
Solar array: 5KW. Cost per lifetime KWH produced $0.073
Bi
Just to clarify, I stated that I did not reach the potential top end of the scooter, but was in an unfamiliar area and did not want to exceed the speed limit. The best way to clarify the potential performance of the scooter is to attach your GPS to the scooter, find the flattest straightest stretch of road and video the GPS starting from 0 MPH and record this going in BOTH directions to account for changes in slope as well as wind speed. This will not only capture top speed but 0-30 / 0-60 / 0-100 times.
Looking forward to hearing about your cycle analyst performance and seeing the posting of the video that I suggested above ;)
Are you sure that's an accurate representation of the gauges? I remember them looking more like this:![gauges.JPG](/sites/default/files/u7304/gauges.JPG)
Either way, IMO ZEV needs to work on the instrument panel.
Anyone thinking of doing business with ZEV should first Google "Darus Zehrbach".
StaticGenerator,
Good catch, we're both wrong. My console is exactly like the one I posted (with the CA installed), but the panel is in black vs silver (black panel like the one you posted). The one you posted is very old and has the old 70mph speedo and old leftmost gauge. Someday I will figure out how to post my own photo but until then just image everything black but the three white dials. Genosensor's bike is yellow where mine is silver so I don't know if that impacts the panel color?
Good one!
Motorcycles: 2011 ZEV Trail 7100, 84V, 60AH, 60+mph, Cycle Analyst, TNC throttle, modified charger. 2013 Kymco GT300i
Bicycles: 2017 Sondors Thin
Cars: 2016 Leaf SV, 30KWH pack. 2007 CR-V
Solar array: 5KW. Cost per lifetime KWH produced $0.073
Bi
Thanks. Now, what does that have to do with an electric scooter?
Thanks U-B-Scootn! I must say I like the silver color better. I wonder if it's an option?
It has everything to do with ZEV - its the name of the owner.
Right, I get it. I've talked to him on the phone.
Is it something you can't say right here in the forum? Why should I be concnerned? I just test rode one of his scooters and it was delivered on time as requested according to specifications. Help me out here...how does a google search on his name impact the scooters he makes?
Hey IBS.
Can you give more info about how you plan to upgrade your bike? Is it just swapping out the controller, or is there more involved?
Regarding the Google search comment, I did do a quick search and saw that there are some legal issues coming up in the search results. Don't know if it's the same guy, but definitely worth considering if it is. Can anybody closer to the company/situation shed more light on this? Definitely don't want to unjustly discredit somebody's name.
Thanks.
Is it 96V ? what kind of controller ?