2011 Zero XU Complete Upgrade 20KW Brushless Conversion - Ready to Ride

If you have been following along with me in my quest to upgrade my 2011 Zero XU Electric Motorcycle with pretty much a complete new electronics system, well the wait is over and it is now ready to ride. There are still a couple of small things I want to address but it is at least 95% done now! As a recap I installed a new QS165 50H Motor with a Fardriver 72890 Controller and this all came with a new speedometer, a complete wiring harness, and the left and right controls including the throttle.

There where a few challenges along the way, but I was expecting that to happen, and if anything things actually went better than I was expecting them to. Some of my concerns where making sure I got all the wiring correct, as I did need to integrate some of the old system in with the new, but not a lot. The only real electrical issue I came across was one wire that went to my speedometer needed to be swapped out to a different wire, this was to get my actual speed to register and also what gear I was in (Gears on an Electric Motorcycle are just power levels).

Mounting the motor went really well and I thought that was my biggest challenge, but I was able to mount the rear motor mounts using my foot peg holes with some spacers and so I only needed to fabricate the front mounts using some aluminium flat bar. I would say my the hardest part of this build was the gearing and chain, I did end up having to revert back to the original 61 tooth 420 sprocket and 420 chain as the new 428 sprocket and chain where just geared too high, which made made the acceleration weak, kind of like staring out in 4th gear. Now back to the original gear setup, I have good torque off the line and a nice top speed of around 120km/h.

I was expecting to get more amps to my controller and motor as my battery is rated at 200 amps nominal and 400 amps peak, but it seems anything over 250 amps shuts the battery BMS system down, resulting in having to restart the bike to get it going again (Turn it on and off). At 250 amps with the 72 volt battery that gives me 18kw of power, but when my battery is fully charged, it is actually sitting at 84 volts which gives me right around 25kw of power. That's 33.5 horsepower with a even more torque. So she rips along pretty nicely now with the upgrades.

So here is what we achieved with this full electronics upgrade:

• We went from the stock 4.8kw (6.4 horsepower) to 25kw (33.5 horsepower).
• We went from a top speed of 82 km/h (51 mph) to 120 km/h (75 mph).
• The battery was also upgraded before I got it from the 1.7kWh pack to a 7.2kWh pack, more than quadrupling the range. From around 40 to 161 kms (25 to 100 miles).
• With the electronics being all new, it will be super reliable.

All in all I am super happy, the upgraded 2011 Zero XU is a lot of fun to ride with lots of power at any speed and it handles like a dream. Now it's time to get my wife out on it so the two of us can go riding, her on the 2011 Zero XU and me on my 1993 Ducati 750SS.

2011 Zero XU Complete Upgrade 20KW Brushless Conversion - Parts Finally Arrived

It took about three weeks to finally arrive but I now have hopefully everything I need to complete my 2011 Zero XU Complete Upgrade with a new Brushless motor and controller setup. The complete kit I purchased comes with the QS165 50H motor which has a nominal rating of 10kW and can put out as much as 40kW if you have a battery and controller with enough power. The Controller that came with my kit is the Fardriver ND72890 capable of 450 battery amps and 890 Phase Amps to the motor. This should get me around 35kW or even more... The Kit I bought also came with the SCJ5066-1 Speedometer, a full wiring harness and left and right controls along with a throttle.

I have most of everything else I need to in terms of nuts, bolts, spacers, washers, connectors, wires, metal bits for fabricating mounts but I am sure there will be something I missed but that is part of the process. So far I have figured out mostly how the motor will be mounted by using the foot peg holes for the rear mounts, some fabrication will be need for the front mounts. I am pretty sure I have the wiring harness figured out now, it was a bit more complicated than I originally thought as there are many of the same connectors so I needed to really dive into the wiring diagram to make sure I use the right connections.

Hopefully I can get the 2011 Zero XU all setup over the next week or so baring anythign I may have overlooked.

2011 Zero XU Complete Upgrade 20KW Brushless Conversion - Ready for New Parts

It's been a couple of weeks since I made my first video on the 2011 Zero XU Complete Upgrade 20kw Brushless Conversion Project I started. I am in the process of upgrading my 2011 Zero XU from a brushed motor system to a brushless motor system, and so far I have stripped the bike down to its bare essentials removing all the electronics and wiring other than lights and the ignition switch. The new complete kit system comes with the motor, controller, throttle, left and right controls, wiring harness and the main speedo screen. All of this is pre-wired and ready to be installed. It is taking a bit longer to arrive but I should have it this Monday so installation can begin on Tuesday hopefully.

I also had the dual sport tires installed and balanced and they are now back on the bike, along with a 428 rear sprocket to match up with the 428 front sprocket that comes on the new brushless motor. This new setup is going to be a major upgrade from the 5kw brushed motor that had a 200 amp controller, the new setup comes with a 450 amp controller and a 10kw nominal motor that can run as high as 30kw peak, that's around 40 horsepower. Here is a link to the new motor and controller kit I bought from Aliexpress:

QSMOTOR QS165 10000W 72V 50H Kit Hall and Encoder PMSM Mid drive Motor Fardriver ND72890

2011 Zero XU Complete Upgrade 20KW Brushless Conversion - It Begins

If it was not obvious by now, I do have a bit of an Electric Vehicle addiction, not so much when it comes to cars, but more so with vehicles for having fun on and just ripping around on. Not the daily driver stuff. Currently I have my Kingsong S22 EUC which is probably one of my favorite Personal Electric Vehicles (PEV's). I also have a Frey Electric Mountain Bike I upgraded the motor on to a 1000 watt Bafang M620 motor. One of my more resent purchases is my SLY-08 Electric Mountainboard which again I couldn't resist upgrading with a FlipSky Controller and higher voltage and capacity battery. That thing rips now! I also have an Electric Scooter I purchased from Eevee's called the Cypress. My Electric Scooter may be the only PEV I haven't modified or upgraded so far?

I have also owned a Onewheel Pus which I did end up selling, even though I really enjoyed riding it. I just found it to be the most unpredictable PEV I owned in terms of safety, as at any moment it can cut out if you push it a bit too hard, and that can be as easy as going at a moderate speed from concrete onto grass, and then the next thing you know, you are sprawled out on the ground... Of course I upgraded and modded that one too :)

I have always wanted an Electric Motorcycle, but they can be kind of expensive for something newer and with decent specs. A lot of the cost, like with a car is in the batteries. And more range means bigger batteries which also means added cost. I found a used 2011 Zero XU that had recently had it's battery replaced with a nice large and powerful custom built (for this bike) 72 volt 100ah Battery capable of 400 amp output. The price of the battery is probably about $4000, which is $1000 more than I paid for the bike. But keep in mind the current version of this similar styled Zero Electric Motorcycle is around $16,000 before tax and PDI and all the other stupid add on charges... So closer to $20,000!!! I will be into my 2011 Zero XU for around $4500 all said and done and it will actually be somewhat comparable to the newer model in terms of power and range, for sure range.

when I bought the Zero XU I was aware that it had a couple issue, the main one being the throttle not engaging 100% of the time. Sometimes you need to roll it on a second time to get the bike rolling, once rolling it seemed fine. I am pretty sure it was the controller which meant replacing the controller. I don't want to drag this on too long so getting to the point, I ended up deciding to instead of trouble shooting the multiple problems mostly to do with wiring, I would simple replace all the electronics other than the battery with a complete Brushless Motor, Controller and full Harness and Display Kit. That might seem like an expensive choice but this kit will essentially make all the guts of my bike new and it will be a major upgrade in terms of speed and even range as Brushless Motors allow for battery regeneration and are a lot more efficient than brushed motors in general.

My wife already rides my electric Mountain Bike a lot and the plan is she will be able to scoot around on the Zero XU. We can also go out on rides together, as I have my 1993 Ducatti 750ss so that will be a lot of fun! I just need to wait on the parts to arrive now and put it all back together. I hope to document at least some of this upgrade and conversion so join me if something like this  is interesting to you :)