EVTA Z20/R20 ownership summary

I should add that I have my R-20 too and it is working fine currently.

But I haven't exactly stressed it much yet since it's sitting in my parent's garage still. And I've only managed to get down there to ride it twice so far. And those were 10mph (3 miles) and 15-20 mph (6 miles) rides around a parking lot just playing around and being gentle on the batteries. And that was indicated speed so it was probably even slower. I certainly haven't found a top speed yet.

My top speed on flat ground is 40mph, determined by having a car follow me. The speedo lists 50+ when traveling at this speed. My 30mph displays as 35mph on my speedo. This was also determined with a car following me.

"Honk when I am holding 30mph."
"Honk twice when I am holding 40mph."

Testing sophistication.

Supposedly I have controller problems because the bike doesn't work quite like I want it to, but my bike has never died on me.

Thanks for starting this thread, Astar. I was just thinking of getting a thread going for all the Z owners to share our experiences.

I am currently in a holding pattern until EVTA can get back to me about a new controller. My last response from EVTA regarding the controllers was 5 days ago. They are expecting a shipment of new controllers in early Feb (but could be delayed as late as mid Feb). The silence regarding this is gnawing at me, but I understand that there is just nothing to report at this time from EVTA. They just need to get those new controllers.

Does anybody else have anything to add regarding what is being done to get the non-functioning scooters up and running?

Just got my tracking number today. Silver R-20 in route.

Phil

You can move me to the having problems column. I'm currently waiting on a new throttle to see if that corrects my acceleration and top speed problem.

Dwrath, can you be more specific about your acceleration and top speed problem?

I recievied my tracking number today. R-20 hope it's here by end of week and arrives safely.

Ya, I'm hoping mine will be here Friday

Does anyone on the west coast have any info on how many days it
took after you got a tracking number ?

Putting the info on the shipper site (zip to zip) and using
the BAXSaver for a reference it looks like Friday - we will see.

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 believe Davy Sea has the same problem with his R-20. I've gone over the wiring and it all seems sound, so Andy at EVT believes it to be a throttle problem and is suppose to be sending me a new throttle to see if that fixes the problem; if not, then we'll try switching out the controller. Guess it's the price you pay for getting the "first generation" of a scooter at the discounted price. BTW for you R-20 owners, if you see a pink wire sticking out and not attached to anything underneath the front shell of the scooter, ignore it, it was a red herring for us and turns out to be an extra wire the was suppose to be removed.

My R-20 is in Los Angeles today, it left on Monday.
I am waiting for it to arrive at my door either today or tomorrow hopefully.

I'm eagerly awaiting a test drive.
My office is very near Leftcoastelectric.com and I am gonna cruise on over to see if they have any feedback.

I would like to get an LED headlamp, which would use much less juice to operate, in addition to some no-gas symbols in glow paint.

I at first wanted to use flexible PV's on it, but I don't know how practical it would be.

I received a tracking number today and hopefully my Z-20a will be here in SC sometime next week.

Hey folks, sounds like you're getting the problems worked out...or at least figured out.

Don't want to stray off topic here but thought I'd offer the following to those who want to check speed and don't have a GPS, etc. I use a bike computer on my scoot. They are cheap and easy to install. And, if you are careful to install and set it up properly it seems to be very accurate. I've checked mine in several different ways and it is accurate. I've used the current one on two different scooters. I'm not sure of the accuracy of the wireless ones...since I've only used the "wired" ones...but I've just found this to not only be an inexpensive way to check my speed...but as well distance, time, etc...all those goodies they pack into these little devices. You can get really expensive ones, wired or wireless, etc...but I've just used the cheapest ones ($10-15)...and with great success... By the way, mine has the magnet that is actually setup to attach to a bike spoke...and I just make a small L-shaped mount for it and then wire tie the mount to the "center hub" of the wheel. I also put a piece of double sided tape under the surface of the mount and "stick it" to the hub as well.

Just a tip for those who might not be aware of these inexpensive devices....

Gushar

My R-20 will be at the shippers station this afternoon.
Soooo... I can wait till Monday and have it delivered
or go pick the heavy mother up this afternoon and play
with it this weekend.

Decisions Decisions

I put together my Black R-20 today at work, everyone was unpressed with the design (im at an architecture studio)

However, the throttle doesn't respond at all, the lights and electronics work, but no response in the motor :(

I'm eagerly waiting for an email to get help.

I don't know that much about electronics, so its really frustrating.

The bike, although cheaply built, looks really cool, and all my coworkers were surprised how substantial and cool the bike is.

I look forward for a ride, as its a beautiful sunny day in LA today, not uncommon, but its been cold and gray lately.

I'd suggest you first put the kick-stand up and down and make sure it is all the way up. If that doesn't work, I'd call Andres/Andy as opposed to emailing him.

Hey mlh78750, that's great news. Since I'm in Dallas, what did it take to get your z20 registered? Have you applied for the energy credit that's available for Austin residents?

Hey mlh78750, that's great news. Since I'm in Dallas, what did it take to get your z20 registered? Have you applied for the energy credit that's available for Austin residents?

Took the MCO and the invoice and my proof of insurance into the tax office. I was in and out in 15 min with plates for hte bike.

The credit is only available through City of Austin Electric. And thank God I do not have City of Austin Electric. Bummer on the missed credit, but I only spend about 50% what those poor people do for the same electricity. I will keep my co-op electric. :)

My Z20a arrived an hour ago (Glenwood, MN).

Considering it is a steamy 16F outside, it is tempting take it for a spin. But I won't be starting it up until I at least attempt the recommended upgrades:
- Break in batteries (brake light method)
- Build/Wire Bank Charger (5 VEC-1086B chargers on order)
- Install PakTrakr, PakTrakr ES1R Automatic logging serial interface, and PakTrakr Current Sensor (on order)

Now that I have a bike, I'll try to stop lurking and post pics and details on my upgrade process and let you know if it runs.

Thanks to all of the forum contributors for the info.

My R20 arrived a couple hours ago. I unpacked it. It looks good. Lunges, and then nothing, but if I click the brake light off it lunges again, goodtimes.

I will chronicle the fun with EVTAMERICA on its own thread.
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/2850-r20-mr-baker

nevermind, minor thing, kickstand spring not connected, kickstand was not up all the way, crisis averted. :)
I am going helmet shopping.
Yipppie!!!!!

Got my R-20 insured and tagged for New York State. They had a little trouble with the cylinders line on there computer. Would not take zero
had to say at least one cylinder. Other then that registration went through fine.

Every thing is running fine. Just been around the block a couple of times. May go out later today if it gets above 32.

I got the directions for installing the wind shield yesterday I have always been good at figuring out puzzles so I had it put on already, I was pretty close. Just have to move bottom brackets to proper spot.

I received my Z-20a last week. And here is my experience so far.
First night I left it on the string charger that came with the Scooter. I have a Kill-o-Watt meter that monitors the power that the charger is using to charge batteries. When it started to charge that night it was using about 419 watts. When I woke up in the morning, the charger let me know it was charged and my Kill-o-Watt meter was showing only 3 watts was being used by the charger.

First ride I took it very easy around my neighborhood (no more than 10 or 15 mph guessing because speedometer was showing about 20 to 25). It seemed to work fine. Then I put it on the string charge again and it started to uses about 419 watts. After about 30 minutes I came back to check on the charger and it showed that the batteries were charged, although my Kill-o-watt meter was showing it was still using about 76 watts. I unplugged the charger and an hour later went for a ride. The bike was cutting out on me on almost all hills and fast accelerations. I went about 4 miles and had to roll off the throttle and back on slowly to get the scooter to keep going. I charged it again for about 30 minutes till the charger said it was charged again and rode about 1 mile and the problem got worst.

I talked to EVT America (Andy) and he said that I may be too quick on the throttle since I am use to riding gas powered motorcycles and currently have a Suzuki VX-800. I also took USATracy’s advice and bank charged my scooter using 5 Schumacher Speed charge (6/4/2 amp 12/6 volts). After that I took the scooter on the same 4-mile ride and the scooter ran great. Also, it took my 5 chargers 2 hours to charge the batteries. The chargers drew about 380 watts at first and slowly dropped wattage as the battery indicators lights got closer to full on the chargers. I drove the same 4 miles again and everything seemed to work well.

So I believe my Factory String Charger is claiming that the bike is finish charging when it is not. Also I believe my throttle has a small and very sensitive range to make the scooter go (some where around half throttle).
Has anyone else had issues like this?

I was helping a friend take his gas scooter in for repair today
and what did I see at the dealer - the EXACT scooter chassis
on one of the gas powered scooters they sell (R-20 version).

So now I have a local place to get parts if I need to.

The gas version (which also comes in pink) sells for $1600.

My R-20 continues to run well. I need to take that blank
alarm out of the circuit. The startup sounds like the
ice cream man is coming :)

Who makes it? What is it called?

Shayler I hate to tell you but that is exactly what mine did before it eventually failed. The problem just kept getting worse and worse as I rode it. If I remember correctly Don's is behaving the same way and his hasn't failed, it just keeps cutting out and he has to slowly increase throttle or it cuts out.

Ok, I just took mine on a 6.5 mile (actual) ride and it did fine so far. It has actually got better after I started bank charging it. I have put about 50 mile on the scooters odometer (do not know how many actual mile that is) so far. I will keep monitoring it closely. Do any of you use bank charging or have tried to leave the string charger plugged in over night even though it claims that it is full charged (I believe it is actually still charging)? How many mile was it before you started having trouble? I will let you my status in a few more days and miles.

my z20a is still sitting in the garage as i wait for a complete replacement since mine was apparently dropped from a bridge or something and is completely bent up. i haven't heard much in the way of delivery dates but i'm extremely pleased they decided to replace it. i'm not sure yet what will come of the broken one.

New to this listing,

I got my Z-20 back in December. The scooter arrived with some scratches and those already known Chinese quality issues.
The front fork was too loose and I had to apply a little torque to the bearing to get it fixed.
Major problem: I’ve not been able to register it in FL yet. Why? Because they say that EVT America does not have a dealer license here. I told them I bought the scooter online. It didn’t work because they say EVTA must have a dealer license to sell scooter in FL even if it’s an online sale… Is there anybody else in FL going through this same issue? The most important question (not yet answered by EVTA): if they previously sold many EVT scooters in FL why am I having this issue now with the Z-20???? I’ve placed a post to sell the scooter at EV Trader only because I have this licensing issue in FL but I really want to keep the scooter. Any suggestions?
I have checked the speedo and found it’s 20% out of calibration. Top speed with a 200 lbs rider and strong side wind was 40 MPH (or 48 on the speedo) with a GPS.
The scooter has 40 miles on it without any major issue (besides the fact I couldn't get a tag for it).

Alex from Miami, FL.