Electric bikes and cars have been in the market for quite some time. Electric automobiles have seen a lukewarm reception in India. Sales are gradually picking up in our country for a couple of reasons. Mainly because of high fossil fuel price and secondary because of the vehicles are comparatively eco-friendly. Now the situation is much more advanced in the USA. The US has seen the growth of electric auto segment almost half-decade ago and now it is in a phase of using high performance electric vehicles. There are many companies who manufacture electric cars and bikes, but high performance vehicles? A very few which includes Telsa Motors in the four-wheeler segment and Zero Motorcycles in two-wheelers.
Zero Motorcycles previously known as Electricross was started in 2006 by a former NASA engineer. The company straight away jumped into the bike segment and has been coming up with new models since its inception. The company recently unveiled its latest beast. It’s the Zero SR which is an upgraded version of the Zero S.
The Zero SR is equipped with the company’s own Z-Force motor which outputs 67 HP of power and 144 Nm of torque. Now that is sheer power that the power pack delivers. The motor is brushless, air-cooled and uses a permanent high-temp magnet. It has 660 amp, 3-phase controller with regenerative deceleration. Zero Motorcycles claim that the vehicle does 0-100 km/hr in just 3.5 seconds. Oops! The Zero SR has beaten the KTM Duke 390 by a margin of 2 seconds flat. The top speed of the SR is 164 km/hr which is very impressive.
You must be thinking about the distance the Zero SR would propel per full charge. Well it is 220 kms for city driving. The company also provides a power pack upgrade to the existing Zero S as well as the upcoming Zero SR version. The power pack upgrade will allow you to travel 276 kms on a full charge. Now you may wonder the time required to fully charge the power pack. Zero has worked on that too and has come up with an accessory. It is CHAdeMO. You can use this kit and the charge time will come down from 10 hours to just 1. The vehicle will charge from zero to full by the time you have your meal and you are all set to ride.
The Zero SR’s frame is made up of aircraft grade aluminium with a twin spar structure which holds low centre of gravity ultimately providing superior performance. The front breaks are of Nissin while the rear ones are of J-Juan. Zero Motorcycles estimates the lifespan of the vehicle to be more than 4.8 lakh kms. Now all these figures are mind blowing and so is the price which at $16,995 (Rs. 10.72 lakhs) isn’t cheap. Unfortunately the company has no plans to enter India right now. Zero has certainly produced a Hero.
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