VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P93
Ride Modes Pro increases your
available options from Eco, Rain
and Road to include Dynamic, all
of which give you varying levels
of throttle/torque response and
ever-increasing levels of regen-
erative braking.
As you'd expect, Dynamic
mode's regen is, err, dynamic, to
say the least. The regen/engine
braking is so full-on you hardly
need to use the brakes at all in any
-
thing below 30 mph. Even when
you're riding at 50 mph, a little for-
ward planning means all you need
to do is back off the throttle and
apply the slightest amount of front
brake to come to a safe stop.
Dynamic's regen was just too
much for me, so I kept my mode
in Road to offer full power but
enough regen to help with brak
-
ing for the traffic lights.
I couldn't honestly tell you how
much the regen helps with range.
I suspect it's not a lot. BMW says
there's 80 miles of range out of
the CE 04, a claim I find a little
dubious—as is almost always the
case with electric motorcycles.
My range test run saw me take
the scooter 48 miles through
stop-start city traffic lights, a few
constant throttle segments, and
a straight shot back home on the
405, which is pretty much par for
the course if you live in SoCal.
That run saw me chew through
76 percent of battery life, and if
I continued without going home,
I don't think I'd get more than 15
more miles before coasting to a
silent halt.
That's not a deal breaker, but
you've got to take claimed range
with the biggest pinch of salt you
can handle. Granted, if all I was
doing was the traffic light GP, I'm
pretty sure I'd get close to the
claimed 80 miles between charg
-
es. Alternatively, if I were only do-
ing freeway stints on full throttle at
that top speed of 79 mph, there'd
be a fair few less miles showing up
on that glorious 10-inch dash.
That brings me to charging. I
don't have a 220v charging sys
-
tem in my house, so I'm dealing
with the measly 110v made for
a charge time of just over three
hours. From dead flat, it'd take
about four and a half hours.
Here's where it gets interesting.
When out shooting this bike for
this test, I needed a charge top-up
and went to an Electrify America
Charging Station port, where a
BMW IX SUV was using the sta-
tion. There, they only have DC fast
charging. BMW claims you can
