It was only a matter of time before electric motorcycles started surging in popularity. American company Zero had something to prove in the segment, and it did so by setting an official world record. The company sent one of its DS (dual sport) motorcycles on an endurance ride. The result? A distance of 436 kilometres on a single charge.
That’s not hard to do if your battery is big enough. This Guinness World Record-holding trip pulled it off on a standard version of the Zero DS, with a standard 15.6kWh battery plus the company’s 3.6kWh range-extending add-on.
Zero range anxiety?
You’re unlikely to replicate the feat on your own, however. The ride took place in France, on a mostly downhill course that let the company use regenerative braking to extend range. Belgian rider Jelle Verstaen set the actual record, accompanied by two others. Louis Renaud and Jenny Brookes rode different models of Zero’s bikes.
The default range of a Zero DS is 232 kilometres, so pulling this off is especially impressive. The ride was slower than you might expect, and it was also conducted at night to avoid traffic. Cruise control was used to control the battery’s discharge. The downhill nature of the drive also helped.
All three of Zero’s riders beat the previous world record of 310km for a single charge on an electric motorcycle. Renaud made 350km, while Brookes stopped at the 385km mark. The reason Verstaen continued was, in part, thanks to “a high-density Z-Force battery with a passively cooled interior permanent magnet motor and a drivetrain engineered to minimize energy losses.” That’s PR-speak for ‘we have better batteries and motors than the other guys.’
Unfortunately, trying this for yourself could be tricky. Zero’s motorcycles used to be available in South Africa. When we checked, the company behind their import, Cayenne World, seems to have fallen off the map. That means your best bet will be a second-hand Zero DS. The model was available in South Africa for a short while.
