Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/809757
FEATURE E-TOURING IN CALIFORNIA P94 40 miles north of Zero's Scotts Valley factory. For this year, Zero boosted energy density with more efficient lithium-ion battery cell chemistry, allowing its models with the $2674 2.9 kWh Power Tank supplementary battery fitted in the receptacle in front of the "fuel tank" behind the steering head, combining with the 13.0kWh main battery pack, to offer a claimed range of 197 miles in urban use, or 98 miles at 70 mph on the highway, and a combined city/highway range of 108 miles—the first time this has exceeded 100 miles on any Zero model. Coupled with the new more potent powertrain that delivers a claimed 56% more torque at 106 lb-ft/143 Nm— more than a 98.1 lb-ft/133 Nm Kawasaki H2!—and 25% more horsepower at 67 bhp than in 2015, and the 660-amp control- ler necessary to convey this, it seemed this was now a zero- emissions motorcycle you could go places—and faraway places, at that, not only your daily com- mute. So in effect I invited Zero management to make a bet with me that their claims for industry- leading range and performance would be attained in reality, by undertaking what transpired to be a 900-mile tour of Northern California, and it's greatly to their credit that they agreed to go along with this. To do so, they furnished me with their new- for-2016 Zero DSR, the highest performance on/off-road dual- sport model the company has yet built, retailing at an MSRP of $15,995, rising to $18,669 fitted with the optional 2.9 kWh Power Tank battery pack bringing the total onboard battery capac- ity to 15.9 kWh. Remember, the higher costs of acquisition versus a conventional motor- cycle are offset by the fact these are zero maintenance products. Apart from replacing brake pads and tires, and the Gates drive belt that's now good for 25,000 miles, you ought never to have to visit your friendly local Zero dealer again, except when you want to. However, recharging speed would obviously be a key issue, which Zero addressed by adding a top box to the two side pan- niers containing my luggage. This contained two Elcon 2.5 kWh chargers, which, when coupled up via a Zero Y-Adapter, delivered around six times the charging speed of Zero's 1.3 Page 1 Copyright © and (P) 1988–2010 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/streets/ Certain mapping and direction data © 2010 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includes information taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2010 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc. © 2010 by Applied Geographic Systems. All rights reserved. zero tour 16 825.8 miles; 4 days, 4 hours, 43 minutes 0 mi 20 40 60 80 100 "Refueling" is the number-one concern while touring on an E-bike. You must plan ahead.