Yahoo Autos The 2023 Zero SR/F Proves The EV Transition Is Faster On Two-Wheels
The same weekend that the Motorcycles — with uppercase “M,” per Plato’s idealism — took over Austin, I finally went on my maiden voyage aboard an EV. I should say astride rather than aboard, as it just so happens that when MotoGP and the Handbuilt Show converged on the Texas capital, I went for a long ride on a 2023 Zero SR/F, making it the first EV I’ve operated on public roads.
Full Disclosure: Zero invited me for a test ride out to the Texas Hill Country. The EV company paid for my hotel and a hearty breakfast the next morning. When both this rider and the EV motorcycle Zero lent me were fully charged, my riding partner and I took off to enjoy some of the twisties outside of Austin.
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For reference, I’m coming from a stalwart ICE background. I split the role of a daily between my 1997 BMW 318ti and 1986 Yamaha SRX600. There’s a naturally aspirated inline-four in the BMW and an air cooled single-cylinder in the Yamaha. I’m not categorically opposed to EVs, but I’m holding on to my gas-burning vehicles because I’d rather extend their service life and free up the resources needed to produce whatever new EV might replace them.
I believe that being environmentally responsible is not just about emissions; it’s also about making do with what we have on hand and creating less waste. If I can keep my vehicles out of a junkyard by using their efficient engines for my driving needs, then I’m doing something a bit more environmentally conscious than buying a new EV. At the very least, it’s better than getting on some lease cycle where I go through EVs until I find the model I’m willing to keep for good.
When the time finally comes for me to transition to EVs, I’m convinced I will do so on a motorcycle, which is why I get excited when I see what’s ahead for fully-electric bikes — whether that’s in the future of design, or the future of the American motorcycle market, which has more EVs now than ever before.
Zero is no startup in this space; the company has been around since the mid-aughts. In fact, Zero’s first models predate some of my favorite early EV bikes, such as the Brammo Enertia and Empulse, both of which looked more like motorcycles than EVs. I can’t say the same thing about Zero’s early efforts, such as the Zero S, which always struck me as an EV first and motorcycle second.
Perhaps more than cars, motorcycles connect with owners on a sensory level. That begins with the way a bike looks, sounds and, of course, the way it handles. Modern EV bikes, from Zero or otherwise, are now closer to the platonic ideal of a motorcycle, but it took a while to get there.
Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire brand has brought some personality with EVs that look like flat trackers, and Zero Motorcycles is hot on the heels of streetfighters from the likes of Ducati and BMW. If you squint hard enough, the bright red Zero SR/F looks a bit like a naked Ducati. Indeed, if its trellis frame was red, the resemblance to the ’Duc would be even greater. But does it ride like one?
2023 Zero SR/F: EV Performance and Range
The short answer is no. The Zero SR/F does not ride like a Ducati, but it’s closer than I’d have thought — minus the quirks of operating a less complex machine that lacks a manual transmission, which took some getting used to on my part.
The 2023 Zero SR/F is powered by a Z-Force 75-10 motor that makes 110 hp and 140 lb-ft of torque. The SR/F has a top speed of 124 miles per hour and will sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just under four seconds. The SR/F’s 0-60 time is absurdly low on a dyno (under two seconds), but real world metrics put it below four. That’s still plenty fast, but the bike’s speed is not as scary as it sounds.
The electric motor draws energy from a 17.3 kWh lithium-ion battery, which is good for an estimated range of up to 187 miles in the city. The range drops down to 93 miles at highway speeds of 70 mph. A mix of fast highway riding and puttering around the city yields a range of 124 miles per charge. That’s not too shabby considering some ICE-equipped motorcycles can only go about 150 miles per full tank. Then again, filling up a combustion bike is quick and easy, whereas with a Zero EV it’s not.
2023 Zero SR/F: City Riding
I would come to find out all about the pitfalls of EVs with my riding partner, who was riding a Zero FXE. That model has a shorter range of up to 100 miles in the city, or 57 miles combined. In order to go from South Congress Avenue to the twisties at Lime Creek Road, we’d be riding along a mix of surface roads and highways. Our test ride started out near downtown Austin.
Both the Zero FXE and Zero SR/F feel right at home in the city. Fully-electric vehicles are basically made for urban environments: they’re docile and dead still at stoplights. There’s no vibration, no heat, no sound, just a quietly patient bike awaiting input. It feels uncanny to sit at a light and be perfectly still on a machine that’s capable of blasting off the line like a rocket ship on mute.
And, yet, there was no learning curve as far as acceleration and deceleration, even without relying on mild riding modes. The Zero SR/F has five different modes: Rain, Eco, Standard, Sport and Canyon. I thought I would need Rain or Eco to rein in the performance, but I worried that the aggressive regenerative braking would trip me up, so I opted to leave the SR/F in standard mode.
We geared up, saddled up and I rolled on the throttle shakily. See, there’s no feedback from an EV motorcycle other than a bit of sound and, of course, the feeling of being propelled ahead magically. It’s unnerving at first. My brain struggled to understand the fact that I was falling forward that fast, that easy.
I knew I was moving but all the sensory information that I rely on to confirm my propulsion on a bike had been stripped away. I had to keep reminding myself that my forward motion was, indeed, real. It didn’t help that the Zero carries its weight differently than combustion-powered bikes.
In a word, the drivetrain of the Zero SR/F feels hollow. The weight of the motor and battery pack sit near the rider’s center of gravity, but there are fewer moving parts, so you’re not fighting the motion of the engine. The power goes directly from the electric motor through the bike’s carbon belt drive and to the beefy rear wheel.
