Design Philosophy
What Makes a vehicle a ZEV? 
OUR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY 
  • We design all vehicles with the ability to carry loads at least equal to their  own weight. This increases their usefulness, and by way of the radically strong chassis, increases their handling performance and chassis life.
  • We use only in the wheel hub motors and exterior mounted controlled to save room for batteries in the chassis.
  • We do not believe in planned obsolescence. No ZEV should ever be considered disposable. Consider that:  
1) We make each bike constantly upgradable and able to be refurbished at a low price.                                                      
With the few parts in an electric bike they can easily be swapped in the future for the latest design. 

2) Our fully painted, ready to install body kit is very inexpensive compared to any other company. We can ship it anywhere in the world to anyone who wants to make their old ZEV look new again.  
           
3) We design all of our vehicles with the ability to be retrofitted and upgraded with new batteries as developments are made. Our customers will never be locked in to a single battery supplier.      

4)There is an extra set of hall sensors already installed and prewired in the hub motors in all of the bikes. Should a hall sensor go bad over time, change the connector, not the motor, and keep running.                                                                      

5) We are the only company in the world who builds lubrication into their electric motors. Ours are oil bath lubricated and cooled for the longest motor life possible.
Motor Inside the Wheel Design (Hub Motors)
ZEV is the only company in the world to use oil-cooled hub motors inside the rear wheel. This extra lubrication radically increases motor life and cooling for the longest possible life.    
  • Hub motors (also called wheel motors) eliminate belts or chain drives for more efficiency yielding higher range. This design gives us the lowest total or moving part count for maximum reliability and lowest maintenance. 
  • ZEV is the only company in the world with models having dual hub motors in the rear drive wheels for maximum power and flexibility.
  • All of the 13, 14, 16, 17 inch hub motors have an extra set of hall sensors already built into the motor and pre-wired as a redundant standby set.  
Multi-Speed Electronic Transmission
Each bike is installed with an electronic 3 speed controller that acts like a transmission. A no clutch controller, which boosts range up to 50% and hill climbing ability up to 35% over competing vehicles. This controller varies both the amps and the volts at the touch of a button.
Lithium Batteries
Our largest standard battery pack has a capacity of 10 Kwh, the largest battery pack available in any scooter. Available to 12.9 Kwh
Each battery pack is built to standard sizes so that as new battery technologies become available, your ZEV is ready to upgrade. No ZEV customer will ever be locked in to a single battery supplier. 
Our Production

Our scooters and motorcycles are hand-built. Every single bike is test-driven and test-charged three times over several days before shipping. Not one other company in the world invests that time to ensure your bike arrives without defect.
ZEV are designed by highly skilled aircraft and race vehicle engineers and assembled by aircraft mechanics. They are tested on airport test tracks and on race tracks where they can be pressed to find any limits. Then they are run over the rough mountain roads of W Md, West Virginia, and Pa in the USA to ensure durability. They are driven daily by customers around the world as their "go to work vehicle" 

Every bike is road tested multiple times before shipping and charge tested multiple times. We are the only company in the world that test drives each and every bike multiple times before shipping. 

ZEV bikes are "engineered" bikes, not accounting or finance driven. We put our development money in performance and reliability first and foremost.  

ZEV BIKE DESIGN FEATURES:

  • World's Most Efficient: We are the world's most efficient highway motor vehicles with MpgE of 636 at 55 mph, and 1270 at 35 mph. This is all due to the following:
  • Real Numbers: ZEV does not use the SAE J2982 dynometer method of estimating range as do some competitors. ZEV uses actual on the road testing to obtain real world range results that a customer can duplicate. Flat East Coast roads such as the 141 miles between Ocean City, Md and Norfolk, Va on US-13-S (55 mph testing) or sections of Southern coastal I-95 are used along with shorter sections found to be flat in other areas.  
  • Hub Motors: also called wheel motors, that put the motor in the rear wheel to eliminate chains and belts and free up chassis space for more battery capacity. Power to 30 KW continuous in single stator motors (to 50 kw in testing). These are the highest efficiency motors available.

ZEV has an all aluminum hub motor and wheel (competitor wheels are generally steel and none have the internal and external cooling fins nor the one piece rim and motor housing). The advantage is not just the lighter weight and better ride, but the far greater heat conduction of the aluminum to remove heat from the hub motor. The steel wheeled motors of competitors are plagued with heat problems resulting in magnets coming loose in the housings. The competitors also cannot hold full rated power continuously due to heat issues.  

These factors help make the ZEV motors the highest efficiency motors available. To put that in prospective, 

1) We run more range with our LRC than the ZERO SR which has a much larger battery. At the 2016 Ohio Vetter Challenge the stock ZEV LRC ran less watts per mile power use than two ZERO based streamliners in the competition (which each had larger battery packages), beaten only by 3% by a purpose built streamliner. 

2) On the race track, in purpose built efficiency cars, teams using the power train from the ZEV LRC state "The fact we are using only 70% of our allowed power and crushing the competition tells me we are on the right track. We were the best on the track lapping everyone". T Nusbickel, CHS      

  • USA Electronic Components: Especially all of the critical MOSFET in the controllers of all cycle and scooter over 3600 watts are USA made power transistors for maximum reliability.
This includes a very high MOSFET count to prevent controller overheating and shutdown. Our standard controller of 3600 watts and up have 48 USA made high power/amp Mosfet. Hot transistors do not live as long as cooler running ones. More Mosfet mean less on time per Mosfet and less heat to the components for the longest life (and not shutting down in the middle of a hill).  

  • Oil Cooling: Keeps the motor temps low and disperses heat from hot spots, keeps the rust out off of the iron core and magnets, and lubricates for longer life. No ZEV motor has ever failed. Our motors consistently run up to 100 degrees C lower temperatures than others in matched conditions and rarely more than 25 degrees over ambient temperatures.
  • Redundant Hull Sensors: are in all of the 13 and larger inch motors for long life. If and when the first set ever go bad, the second set is prewired and ready to go. 
  • Extra Long Swing Arms: that allow the pivot point to be under the rider's seat to smooth out the ride and follow the road better. Ride and handling are significantly improved.
  • Exceptionally High Battery Capacity: No other electric motor scooter company in the world has a model that can hold over 12 Kwh like a ZEV. Because we mount our controllers, motors and chargers externally we can fit more batteries in the chassis than anyone else.   
  • Rigid Chassis: All ZEV bikes use a aircraft construction style, steel tube frame where the battery box acts as a structural frame member for extra stiffness.  
  • Center Stands: Every ZEV motor scooter or motorcycle comes with a side and a center stand stock. Most of the extremely expensive bikes like a ZERO do not have a center stand. Center stands make many maintenance task a breeze and provide extra security when parking your bike. 
  • BMS: (battery management system) is built into the bike to keep track of the cells charge and discharge.
  • Battery Packs: are designed to allow easy repair. ZEV does not use a single monolithic battery pack like virtually every competitor. We use battery modules to that if a cell goes bad, you can remove only that module and put a new module in.  

LARGER BRAKES than any competitor in the weight class for shorter stopping distances and longer brake component service life.
HIGH END GAS SHOCK suspension standard on all bikes over 3600 watts.
BATTERY CHARGERS all fit into the under seat luggage box with room to spare. Take the charger with you for your longest trips
Efficiency

Lots of company brag about the energy efficiency of their motors. But the potential for saving energy is far greater than that factor. An energy efficient motor can only save 10% over another design at constant load. But electronic speed controllers like the ZEV three speed can reduce energy 30% (even before it begins clipping the sine waves during cruising, something other controllers can't). Optimizing the mechanical systems can save another 60%. Consider where the torque bulge is and how large is it. A low rpm torque monster like a ZEV motor has little or no torque lag response to throttle. A higher rpm motor running through belts or chains or even direct, lags the throttle causing a lot of wasted amps. Every second of rolled on throttle and little or no jump in rpm and vehicle speed means wasted energy. Consider the heat shedding ability of the motor and controller. Every bit of heat makes the parts run more inefficiently. At ZEV, we dwell on the minutia of every factor affecting the performance of our systems.

This is why we are the world's most efficient road vehicle. Nobody else even comes close with a car or a bike. With 140 mile range at 55 mph, that is 636 MpgE even on the large LRC (and more on the more streamlined M-S motorcycle models. While our 140 mile on a charge was under dead flat coastal road conditions, we have customers reporting 124 miles achieved in actual daily commuting conditions.  Go a little more slowly, and customers report to 206 mile range on the LRC driving along coastal flat roads on the 10 kwh battery pack. 
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