After having driven the Zero S for 10.000 Kilometers, one crash and lots of trips in cold, hot and rainy weather, here’s a quick résumé.

Reach anxiety doesn’t exist in practice

When riding solo for several hours, it is a welcome change to make a quick charging stop. Both to rest mentally and physically.

And when riding with others, the required speeds and acceleration decrease the bigger the group gets. I have never gotten better mileages than when riding with larger groups.

Naturally this assumes that you’re smart about your route planning.

I have not kept exact records, but the consumption is so low that the wear on the tires ends up being more expensive than the electricity itself.

Is it a motorcycle?

Several of my trips were along bigger motorcycles (650cc, 800cc, 1000cc) and I’ve never had a problem keeping up. The acceleration and the higher top speed never betray that it is a 125cc(-equivalent) bike.

The only place where it actually is too underpowered is at sustained highway speeds.

Noise

The bike itself doesn’t come with an artificial noise generator.

All the noises it does make, are an effect of it driving.

Biggest noise contributor is the belt drive. It is near silent except for certain load situations (when the throttle is slightly above cruising and slowly accelerating), it begins to wail.

The wailing gets louder and more high pitched the faster you go. On the Autobahn it often cuts in and out abruptly at certain speeds and loads.

Canyon Mode

Every time I go for a trip to the Black Forest or Swabian Alps I set the bike to Canyon Mode. This enables both full torque and max regen breaking. While it is slightly more annoying to keep speed, it makes it more than up in total savings and ride comfort. Especially speeding up steep hills or cruising down a long windy serpentine road.

Longevity

Apart from the tires the bike needs almost no maintenance. The only fluid in the entire bike is the breaking fluid.

This is the 3rd year and I have not encountered any change in the max range. It holds its charge like on the first day.

Hibernation

You simply charge it to 80% before the winter and park it in a dry area. It will automatically enter a hibernation mode after some time. After the winter you charge it back up and it is ready to go.

Outlook

I plan to acquire the big motorcycle license sometime next year, but will keep riding this bike.

I am more than happy with what I’ve got. And would go for a Zero bike again that is if they are still selling then. But my next bike will need to have a CCS plug and ideally a better, more modern battery chemistry.

On to the next milestone!