All Tests – Test of Zero S and FXS electric motorcycles: 15 horsepower … and more with electricity – Zero Motos in the assault on auto licenses

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Zero S and FXS electric motorcycles test: 15 horsepower … and more with electricity

All Tests - Test of Zero S and FXS electric motorcycles: 15 horsepower ... and more with electricity - Zero Motos in the assault on auto licenses

Leader of the – microscopic – electric motorcycle market, Zero Motorcycles offers its S and FXS motorcycles in 11 kW version (accessible to B licenses), more efficient than their thermal competitors of 125 cc. Explanations and first contact.

Zero Motos in the assault on auto licenses

The electric motorcycle market is still embryonic in France: with and according to data from the French administration, Zero Motorcycles appears at the top of sales in the sector (read our).

Leader in France, the American manufacturer of electric motorcycles is also said to be on a global scale. But his status as "Number One" is impossible to verify: "Zero Motorcycles does not communicate on its production volumes or financial results", indicates, responsible for the brand in France.

"Electric motorcycle sales figures are low compared to thermal ones", he admits. Thus, in order not to penalize the image of this market – in the making? – and to protect its own image, the Scotts Valley firm (near Santa Cruz, California) prefers to keep this type of information…

Zero Motorcycles, on the other hand, is infinitely more eloquent when it comes to its products and their growing performance. According to Umberto Uccelli, CEO of the brand in Europe, the progress made in a few years is phenomenal: "the company is ten years old", recalls the Italian big boss, a former BMW, Ducati and MV Agusta. Compared to certain brands of motorcycles – especially American and which are a century older! -,"it seems very young indeed, but a decade in the world of new technologies is enormous", he relativizes.

"Understand that between the S model and that of, the range has been multiplied by 5.8, the power by 5.2, the torque by 2.4 and the maximum speed by 1.7", illustrates Bruno Muller, while"at the same time the price of the motorcycle has decreased by 1500 euros"(read our).

Today, the Zero Motorcycles "Streetfighter" roadster in its version equipped with the 13 kWh Z-Force Lithium-Ion battery and the additional "Power Tank" – a fifth battery cell increasing the capacity to 15.9 kWh – would be able to travel 317 km in town.

On the fast track (at 113 km / h), the range would drop to 158 km … "This is the advantage we have over thermal motorcycles: thanks to our energy recovery system, we consume less in the city.", rebounds deftly Umberto Uccelli.

The electric motorcycle marks a point here with city dwellers, Parisians in the lead since they will not be able to intramural during the week with any motorcycle! Bikers from France and Navarre, they will not be insensitive to the other figures announced !

According to the manufacturer, the SR – more Radical than the "short" S – would have a maximum power of 67 horsepower and above all a torque of 144 Nm. By comparison, this represents, for a total weight of 208 kg all "loads" made (allow 9 hours in "normal" load and 3 hours with additional chargers).

The Zero SR would thus cut 0 to 100 km / h in 3.3 seconds, could peak at 164 km / h and "crum" without problem to 153 km / h. At the same time, the peripherals fitted to the Zero range since 2015 () would ensure it behaves like a "real" motorcycle..

But the products of the Californian firm, booming from a technical point of view, do not know the same boom on the commercial level … And it is precisely to develop its business that Zero Motorcycles is launching two models this year 15 horses (read).

The Zero S and FXS 11 kW are intended primarily for the European market, and especially for our country: "the MTL market (125 cc and equivalents, flanged at 11 kW or 15 horses, Editor’s note) is very important in France", continues Bruno Muller.

"It represents a third of the French motorcycle market, or even 40% if we include 3-wheelers. (MP3 LT and others, accessible like the 125 with B licenses via a 7-hour training course, Editor’s note), hence our insistence with our American colleagues to bring out this type of vehicle".

Similar in all respects to the S (54 hp) and FXS (the supermotard of the family, which develops 44 or 27 hp depending on the version) models, these new 2016 versions comply with European directive 212/36 / EU which limits power "continuous" electric motorcycles at 11 kW and the power / weight ratio at 0.1 kW / kg.

"Continuous power is the power that the motor can provide while stabilizing its heating.", translated Bruno Muller. In terms of" maximum "power, however, the electric" MTL "can – blithely – exceed these 15 horsepower: in this case, the Zero S and flanged FXS continue (!) to develop respectively 54 and 44 horses !

The torque developed by electric motors – "brushless type, entirely designed, developed and produced in-house since 2012", underlines in passing Zero – is even more impressive: 95 Nm on the supermotard which displays 133 kg on the scale of its manufacturer, and 94 Nm for the roadster of 185 kg. Sacred selling points, no ?

"We do not hide these values, but we do not have the will to put them forward either.", Bruno Muller confides to Site:"the legislation allows us to approve our motorcycles in this configuration, we simply take advantage of it".

Thanks to this subtlety – which also benefits the, which passed last year in France -, the S and FXS "11 kW" therefore deliver acceleration and pick-up clearly superior to those of the 125 cc competitors….

This is precisely what Zero Motorcycles Europe has offered us to test on the occasion of the French launch of these two 2016 novelties, organized in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne. A world first test which unfortunately took place over only ten kilometers and under a fine rain … Ready? On the way !

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