Over the holiday break I went up the Savannah, Ga. and back with some motorcycling buddies. As it turns out, that generated a variety of questions about my Zero Motorcycles SR/F and driving electric vehicles in general.
Got more questions not answered in the video? POST THEM HERE.
Rather than try to answer the questions I got on social media, I decided to instead post a video with some answers.
One question I got more than once was how long did it take to charge at each stop over my 354-mile overnight excursion from Jacksonville, Fla. to Savannah and back. I didn’t actually time how long every charge was, but I would say the longest charge probably was about 1 hour and 20 minutes after reaching Brunswick, Ga.
During that charge at a hotel with four charging stalls, we ate breakfast across the street at a Waffle House.
From there, we took U.S. 17 and back roads, ending up at the Georgia Peach World Farm in Townsend, which had a free ChargePoint station. We spent roughly 20 minutes at the farm.
Then, we headed for Downtown Savannah and parked in a city garage that had several charging stalls. There was no extra charge for charging. A couple of people were amazed that I only spent a total of nine cents for my charging costs over the entirely of the journey.
We rode approximately 354-miles between Jacksonville and Savannah and back, which included riding around town and exploring some side roads.
The only charging cost I had was at our meet up location in Downtown Jacksonville. In that case, I charged for 25 minutes at a ChargePoint station at WJCT Public Media. We also made a quick stop on Jacksonville’s far Northside at a free charger at a credit union on our way out of town. Jacksonville is the largest city by landmass in the continental U.S.
Another question I received was wide-ranging. The poster wanted to know all about the charging infrastructure across the country. Who pays for it? What are the rates? And so forth.
There’s no single answer, but there is a lot of government funding is going toward charging stations.
For example, I was able to get WJCT Public Media in Jacksonville a federal grant. I went through the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, which was distributing the grant money.
We put in two ChargePoint stations at WJCT. They each output 6.6 kW. Employees are able to charge at WJCT’s wholesale electric cost, while a markup is charged for the general public.
In the private sector some chargers are fully funded by the businesses that install them.
In many cases, Level 2 chargers end up being free for customers to use, where they are often offered as amenities to lure customers to places like hotels and supermarkets.
Level 2 charging stations still do tend to be very economical, if not free, at least here in Florida. I found that to be true in Georgia as well.
Level 2 chargers, which are also commonly used by EV homeowners with garages, add roughly 25 miles of range per hour, depending on the car and the specific charger that’s installed.
For highway travel, where multiple refueling stops are needed in a day, many EV owners choose to use what are known as Level 3 DC chargers. Again, it depends on the car and charger, but Level 3 chargers can often add hundreds of miles
of range in under an hour.
For example, the Porsche Taycan EV can add up to 60 miles of charge in about four minutes, using a 350 kW Level 3 CCS charger.
In general, Level 3 DC charging costs more than gasoline. We spent $4.60 for 10 kilowatts of power at an Ormond Beach, FL Electrify America station during a December 2021 trip.
To put that into perspective, by the EPA’s definition, 33.7 kilowatts are equivalent to 1 gallon of gas in terms of energy. That’s not exactly an apples to apples comparison, since EVs tend to be much more efficient than equivalent gasoline vehicles.
Using our Mini Cooper SE EV as an example, the EPA estimates it gets the equivalent of 108 miles per gallon compared to a gasoline-powered Mini Cooper S, which gets 30 miles per gallon.
The EPA estimates the gas Mini’s fuel costs over the course of a year at more than triple the Mini EV’s fueling cost – at $2000 versus $600.
The thing to remember about EV charging is if you need the fastest charging speeds it will usually cost more. However, most EV drivers start out their day with a full charge, so they usually aren’t going to need to use the faster chargers, unless they’re going on a long road trip with multiple fueling stops in a day.
As far as funding for Level 3 chargers go, the largest public network in America is currently Electrify America. It was paid for by Volkswagen as part of its settlement in the “diesel-gate” emissions scandal. VW agreed to build out the network as a sort of penance and in preparation for its own transition from gas and diesel to electric vehicles.
Another $7.5 billion in federal money is due to be spent on building 500,000 EV chargers across the country as part of the Biden infrastructure plan that has now passed both houses of Congress.
My Savannah trip also generated curiosity about how far my Zero Motorcycles SR/F can go on a charge. The longest I’ve ridden between charges is 116 miles. I didn’t measure the longest distance I went between charges for my Savannah trip, but I would estimate it was probably about 70 miles.
Other than a short stretch in Georgia, we stuck to side roads for the entirety of the trip to Savannah, while we primarily used Interstate 95 for the ride back.
Zero estimated the 2020 SR/F could go 82 miles per charge at 70 mph, which I’ve found to be about right. The SR/F’s exact range depends on weather conditions, hills and so on.
By comparison, a fully-optioned 2022 SR/F offers a range of up to 113 miles with battery capacities of up to 20.9 kWh.
Energica, which is another EV motorcycle maker, makes a 21.5 kWh battery pack for its bikes, giving them an even higher highway range.
Not surprisingly, the range for electric automobiles is generally much higher than it is for motorcycles, just as gas-powered cars have bigger fuel tanks than internal combustion motorcycles.
The top trim level for the new Lucid Air EV, for example, offers a range of 520 miles, while a 2022 Tesla Model S tops 400 miles of range on a charge.
Another question I was asked was what sort of charging set-up my SR/F has. I have the 6kWh charging option, although Zero also offers a 12kWh Rapid Charger that can cut charging times by up to half. Two chargers can be used simultaneously if eMoto Design’s DJ Rapid Charge accessory is added.
Zero will also be offering a software upgrade that add another kWh of charging speed to either the 6 or 12kWh setups in the spring of 2022.
Stan, Steven and others that wrote in, I hope I answered your questions. If not, I’ll certainly do my best to answer any questions that are still on the table in the comments section.