Zero Motorcycles just announced that coming in 2027 is a much requested feature that the company has yet to include on its electric motorcycles: DC fast charging.
Details are still extremely thin. Before leaving its home in the US last year, the company lost much of its management team, and layoffs included its PR and Communications departments. The ripple effects are still being felt with these kinds of big announcements now being made on social media with little opportunity for follow-ups or extra detail.
But what we can glean is that the company seems set on adding the one feature its electric motorcycles have long gone without: the fastest charging technology.
Zero hasn’t yet said exactly which models will receive the new charging technology other than some street and dual-sport models, what charging standard it will use, or what kind of peak charging power riders can expect, but did confirm that some models from as far back as the 2022 model year may be able to upgrade to DC fast charging technology that will roll out on new models next year.
For years, Zero has leaned solely on AC charging. Its current higher-end motorcycles can charge surprisingly quickly by Level 2 standards. The SR/F, for example, comes with a 6.6 kW onboard charger and can be upgraded to 12.6 kW with an additional Rapid Charging Module, giving a nearly full recharge in around 90 minutes when paying for the higher power and bulkier charger module.
But that’s still AC charging, requiring the motorcycle to carry the heavy hardware necessary to convert AC power into DC power for the battery.
DC fast charging, on the other hand, bypasses the extra step of converting the electricity on the bike, instead allowing the dedicated charging station to dump higher power directly into the battery itself.
Zero’s own website currently lists Level 3 DC fast charging as “not yet available for Zero Motorcycles,” and even describes it as a less convenient charging option due to the fewer number of stations compared to slower Level 2 chargers, going as far as to say that “stations are hard to find.” But the lack of DC fast charging has become an increasingly conspicuous omission as electric motorcycles have matured and other major brands long ago adopted the rapid charging standard for some of their electric motorcycles.
DC fast charging can make a major difference for longer-distance riding, allowing riders to add significant range during a relatively short stop instead of planning trips around longer Level 2 charging sessions. It’s how many long-distance electric motorcycle records have been set and how e-motorcycle riders can engage in cross-country touring rides long performed by more primitive combustion-engine motorcycles.
And when it comes to the benefits of DC fast charging, electric motorcycles arguably stand to benefit even more than electric cars. With much smaller batteries than electric cars, an electric motorcycle doesn’t necessarily need enormous triple-digit charging power to dramatically reduce charging stops.
There are still plenty of unanswered questions, especially whether Zero’s 2027 DC fast charging solution will require new battery architecture, whether it will be limited to specific models, or whether there will be an upcharge as with for the higher power AC charging options the company currently offers.
But after years of Zero riders asking when DC fast charging would finally arrive, we now have an answer: 2027.
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