My ZEV 6100

I got a chance to test out my 6100 in very strong wind and it did great. I was over at another EVer's house when he told me that they had just reported 90mph wind in the area. I couldn't resist hopping on the bike to test out it's handling. Around his house with all the trees it wasn't that strong but when I got out of his subdivision it was another story. Bushes, boxes, and other debris blowing across the road; downed tree branches. The bike did great against both head and cross wind in this 8 mile test. Got back home and downloaded the data off the neighborhood weather monitoring station but it only showed 77mph sustained wind not 90mph ( still - isn't that a cat. 1 hurricane strength?).

Nothing else to report; the bike keeps on running without problems.

It's easy to have Golden luck when you start with a rock solid base. Instead of thinking I am a lucky person, I like to think that I am not an incredibly unluckly person. : )

Sure I give Zehrbach sh@t for not installing the Cycle Analyst (CA) for people less mechanically/electrically inclined than me, but the bike is Golden in it's simplicity. There isn't anything on the bike that I can't repair and or buy parts for if needed. Except for the rock-solid controller/motor - it is all standard, inexpensive, easy to get parts unlike the Vectrix nightmare. I really appreciate that he hasn't tried to make his own proprietary information display, when the CA gives me all the info I could ever want and it is an rock-solid, time tested design.

I'm living the EV dream. It looks like converting my 6100 into a 8000 machine is as simple as dropping in his high end controller. But, I first want to see how far I can tweak the existing controller using some of his clever ideas.

You are spot on regarding the Cheng Shin tires on anything but clean pavement. But then they are barely grooved slicks, and if you are going to be on less desirable surfaces you can order the nobby tires that come on his trail bike. The tires surprise me though on the slightest amount of water such as sprinkler runoff in a parking lot; the tires get real weird as if you just went thru a oilly patch. However, riding in the rain you don't have a problem at all. It is as if the Cheng Shin's attract some oil while running on dry pavement and get slippery if you hit a small wet patch. That said, I still ride with the Cheng Shin tires because I like the excellent grip on pavement and the very quiet ride. But if I see sand, gravel, or a wet spot, I slow down and get the bike perpendicular to the road.

Regarding bike weight - I think the MCO showed 305 lbs as shipped. But the weight or CG is so low, I think the issue of sliding on loose dirt is all in the tires.

Leftie,

Riding in near 80mph winds was fun; accelerating, decelerating, swerving was fun on a light, well designed bike like the 6100. It handles crosswinds very well. I'd like to see how it handles at near 100mph winds, but those happen only rarely around here and I doubt I could time it right. Trust me, no heavy objects like half filled trash cans were flying past me; no witches on bicycles (Kansas is our neighbor). It is fun seeing and dodging tumble weeds (dried small 3' wide bushes), which you normally only see on Western movies, as they don't travel in a straight path. I did try to stay out from under the trees as they were losing some branches. Anyone know at what wind speed straw is moving fast enough to stick into wooden objects like telephone poles? I definitely would be inside my house under those conditions.

I'm much more concerned about hitting a patch of gravel or sand on the stock tires than strong winds on our bikes. Those Cheng Shin tires slide too easily on anything but clean pavement. I think a tire with more and deeper grooves would handle the winter road debris much better. Since both our tires do very poorly on the smallest amount of sand/gravel, I still think the issue is the tires and not the bike. If I see sand/gravel on the road, I aim my bike toward the right or left car tire tracks left by previous cars as their tires have cleared much of the debris away. If it is a solid patch of debris, then I slow before the patch, get the bike perpendicular to the road and let the bike wiggle through it. So far it has worked great for me, and I plan on keeping the stock tires on. I'm lucky in that I'm retired and can choose when to ride; I don't have to ride in icy or snowy conditions and our road crews are quick to remove most of the post snow storm road gravel. If I had to deal with more road debris, I would probably opt for dual sport tires.

The ZEV 5000LA weighs 395lbs IIRC, so that's 90 pounds more weight on the same frame and tires.

Yikes, that plus your reduced-power motor controller, no wonder you don't have the same performance that I do. That's like always caring around a super-model without any of the benefits. 35% less power and 30% more weight. Sorry to hear that....

Just out of curiosity, what is your bike's performance? Since my CA isn't hooked up yet, what is your indicated top speed in each virtual "gear"? Indicated 0-50 time? Range?

Leftie,

Regarding the CA, Is it just the speedometer that you haven't connected? When you get ready to hook it up, let me now if I can be of help.

Regarding top speeds in each gear, first I would say to not think of the "gears" as normal gears, but instead as economy modes. First gear tops out around 31mph. I use first gear to get through the intersection and then put it into second gear; also, to drive through school zones or 25mph speed traps. Second gear I use 95% of the time in my normal traveling speeds of 40 to 58 mph. I use third gear rarely and only when I need max torque. Fastest I have taken the bike is 64mph in third gear but then I was on a 55mph highway.

Regarding 0-50mph, I don't know. But I can tell you it is fast enough that I ride in the fast lane without cars feeling they need to go around me. It's an excellent question though and I might test that while also testing a 7100 Trail bike that a guy in Denver will be getting in the next two weeks. It will make for good comparison data. I hope the winds settle down around here as already we have had 45mph winds this morning.

Regarding range, it depends on the speed you go. 98% of the errands I run are within 12 miles of my home (24 mile RT) so for me range is an non-issue. Therefore, I rarely ride below 40 mph these days. So I'm averaging 1mile / AH. But when I first got the bike, I was more concerned about range and was averaging 1.25 mile/ AH. Now, I'm more concerned that people see a electric scooter in the fast lane as a viable transportation option than any worry about range. I saw on one of you posts, that you took a friend down to vote at 20mph; you must have the patience of a saint to ride that slow, I don't. To maximize battery life, I stay well above 80%DOD or less than 32AH. Using that self inflicted limit, and not riding below 35mph unless forced to (i.e. a school zone), the maximum distance I have ever logged was 38 miles without charging. Am I being too cautious with these batteries - most likely yes. At the rate I'm charge cycling these batteries, they will last another 10-12 years at which point they will still have 80% capacity if I'm to believe the manufacturer.

If I had been concerned about range, I would have bought one of the Trail bikes with the 60AH cells. I'm hoping that in 3 to 5 years we will have cells with 5 to 10 times the energy density and the whole range issue with disappear for those people inflicted with range anxiety. Folks, how long do you think it will take for the next generation cell with that type of performance?

Leftie,

I think you mentioned before that you were having difficulty locating charging locations. Well, I stumbled across some cool iPad apps that locate charging points for you and at least for now, most locations are free. Check them out, or if you don't have an iPad, send me the zip codes for the areas you would like to charge in and I will look them up for you.

I found a private residence using the tool - that has a 10KW solar system and is making available to the public a free 120V outlet. Real cool person. I now have charging locations anywhere throughout the Denver metro area if I ever need to use them.

Happy riding,

Leftiebiker,

Of course my stats were not from the stock speedo. My stock speedo always read too high. I never look at anything but the CA and the turn signal indicators. Unfortunately, this is all to common on scooters; I have read posts here stating that even the almighty Vectrix has an inaccurate speedo. If you are going to talk about speed, at least have it GPS verified.

To find charging stations in your area, check out this link:http://visforvoltage.org/forum/11566-finding-charging-locations

Leftiebiker, I found stations in your area using both the carstation.com and map.google.com links (see above link on how to use the google link). You want level 1 or Nema5 outlets. I read Walgreens in NY is adding charge stations.

Ah - maybe this battery technology will answer my desire for greatly increased battery energy density:
http://www.gizmag.com/lithium-batteries-charge-faster-hold-longer/20550/

With that battery, I would be able to upgrade my 6100 to not only meet any errand running need, but my leisure riding desires too. Dang. Something to look forward to.

Pcarlson,

We are the lucky ones. Though my bike is running now at 6600w, peak 7400w, top speed of 64mph, it has a 9200w motor. I could upgrade it to 9200w now, and 80mph (133kmh) speed but I'll wait for the newer higher density batteries as my 6100 is handling my needs as is. But the thought of 10x energy density is amazing.

The only motor I will ever need is already installed on my bike. We don't need no stinking hybrid motors...

The ZEV 6100 just keeps plugging along. This has been a great investment. Now have 3100 miles (5,000Km) on it. That doesn't sound like a lot of mileage; but I dont have a commute, and it is handling at least 95% of my transportation needs vs my cars.

Being that I don't have to deal with any issues with the bike, I can devote my time to learning more about how it works. So I have purchased some test equipment and should have that by mid-March. I plan on doing internal resistance and capacity testing of my 24 cells to see how they are holding out. Also bought a Cell-Log 8M and this device to study individual cell performance:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/%5F%5F18588%5F%5FHobbyking%5F2%5F8S%5FCell%5FChecker%5Fwith%5FLow%5FVoltage%5FAlarm.html

I like that both the Cell-Log and the other device have LVC and/or HVC alarm capability to add redundancy to the LVC/HVC function of the supplied BMS. Redundancies in protecting an expensive pack is a good thing. So I plan to determine my weakest couple of cells and then add one of these devices as a backup to track their performance (your pack is only as good as your weakest cell). Just don't leave them connected for any long unused period as they consume power. Folks that have old XM4000s or other bikes without a BMS might want to look into these devices for the HVC and/or LVC functions.

I have also purchased two more cells and separate charger for a small boost pack. The bike charges up to 87.6V, but settles back down to about 80.5V after removing the surface charge (moving the bike a foot or two under throttle). So, my gameplan is to charge the main pack with its charger and the booster pack with another charger, drain the surface charge off the main pack, then add the booster pack in series. This way I will start my ride with closer to 86.5V than 80V. Should be fairly simple process with the 6mm connectors and thick, flexible silicone wiring I ordered. Is this necessary, no, but I wanted to further my knowledge of how the bike works without having to upgrade any major components.

I'm still looking for a cheap 240Vac 27-32A charger, but no luck so far. I've been watching the endless-sphere forum, and one guy is working on a design but nothing that I can use yet. So plans on adding a J1772 plug to the bike are on hold. Too bad because J1772 stations are multiplying like rabbits around here.

4300 miles and still going strong. No noticeable battery capacity loss and ride is still great. Problems I have had over the last 18 months have been a broken battery hold down strap and a fractured front wheel spoke. The battery cells are precompressed in packs of four from GBS and Zehrbach installs them within a sturdy steel battery box. A rubber strap is then used to keep the 4-packs within the box from moving up and down. I replaced the strap with my own strap. Mentioned to Zehrbach, and he said he's now using a different strap technique.

Front brake had started to rub, fiddled with the caliber, and finally took down to motorcycle wheel shop and they found a fracture in the spoke. They welded the wheel, retrued the wheel and disk, balanced the wheel and repainted the wheel black for a couple hundred bucks. Later found out I could have gotten a new matching wheel off of Ebay for $60. Oh well you live and learn. Actually I didn't mind supporting a local business.

Last winter/spring, I had bought a bunch of cool test equipment and devices to provide testing of the cells and per cell monitoring. But since the bike was running well, I got interested in researching fast charging techniques instead. Problem is anything that will provide 30A charging current is too heavy, bulky, or too expensive. Currently looking at using the proximity signal on the J1772 standard to limit the AC current source to 32A. Then rectifing the signal and then routing through the battery at less than 30A. I need to run this approach through some of the local engineers.

I had my first 'tank slapper' last week. Just got back from vacation, jumped on the 6100 and took off for an errand. I took a right turn at an intersection fairly fast and had the bike leaned over well when the front tire seemed to slip then grab traction again. This sent the handlebars violently jerking back and forth maybe seven times before it all smoothed out again. Then for the rest of the ride everything was silky-smooth again. But the event did starttle me as it seemed I was very close to going down. But those stock tires did a great job keeping me upright. I mentioned the event to Zehrbach and he said that I might also want to tighten the head bearing ring as I have enough miles on the bike. But I'm not sure that is necessary as there doesn't seem to be any movement in the bearing so far.

Cheers,