Brammo Owners Forum

Check out the Zero connected to the charging stating with an SAE J1772.



Looking at Zero's website, it appears that the J1772 is optional (and costs $500).

Brammo bikes only come with a standard (NEMA 5) wall plug, right? Will there be any way to have some kind of adapter to plug in a J1772? I would think that there are going to be more and more charging locations that have the J1772 connector rather than some wall socket. J1772's are safer than standard NEMA 5 plugs (e.g. you can safely connect one while it's raining).

The photo of the Zero and the link to the J1772 option on their website raises more questions than it answers.  Is it truly Level 2 charging going on?  I see three pins in the picture of the charging socket on the Zero website, where the sockets I've seen on, for instance, the Smith Electric Vehicle trucks have all 5 pins visible.  Is this, possibly, 120 volt charging, but the connection just allows you to use the J1772 chargers?

Why am I so suspicious?  Because, if it was truly Level 2 charging going on, Zero would be the first electric motorcycle offering it as an option.  And, if as Richard keeps on insisting, these guys really know how to promote their products, where was the press release on this?  There wasn't one. 

If, on the other hand, this is just a way of using the J1772-equipped charge stations to charge your electric motorcycle, and it's a glorified adapter, then say so, clearly, on your website. 

And if you're wondering whether I'd hold Brammo to the same standard, the answer is yes. 

Thanks protomech... that helps.
The "quick charge time (option)" is an accessory that appears to be independent from the J1772 socket.  It is another $499 and appears to be a "second charger".  I'm not sure if you then hook up both the original onboard charger and the second charger, or if the second charger replaces the original one, or what. 

I guess we should go to the Zero Owners Forum to find the answers to these and other questions.

Even if the bike could only charge at 110v, would still like to have a J1772 (provided it's not crazy expensive). When I'm in public, I would feel a lot less guilty sucking power off an official charging station, with it's J1772 connector, rather than surreptitiously plugging into some wall socket.

However, if it would cost $500 just to get a nice adapter without any improved charging time, I think my avaricious side would overcome any feelings of guilt and I would just use the 110 wall socket.

Some of these charging stations, Coulomb comes to mind, come with dual power options.

True. However, the two charging stations that I have seen so far (one outside Orlando City Hall, the other at a Nissan dealership) only appeared to have J1772. Since that's a standard that most EVs seem to be adopting, I wouldn't be surprised to see that showing up all over the place.

I think it is the QuiQ by Delta-Q.  Here's some info from the postings over on elmoto.net:
Ahh, that's what they're doing. The J1772 is one kit, the Quick charge kit is another charger.... offboard from what I see?

With just the J1772 connector, you can use the charging station J1772, which has both L1 and L2 charging..... but still get 1000W.
With the J1772 connector + quick charging kit, you can use the L2 ability of the J1772 connector and get 2000W.

I just don't see how you'd fit bith chargers onboard the bike.

****
Then...

The Zero S has the built in charger for Level 1 charging. The J1772 port only supports level one charging. For level 2 charging you need to plug the second off-board charger into the auxiliary charger input. Using both the on-board charger + off-board charger = Level 2 charging.

Although there is no place to mount the second charger to the bike for on-board Level 2 charging, I don't see this as being prohibitively difficult. As of now, it is a moot point since Level 2 charging stations, or any charging stations are still few and far between... but we're working on that.

Talked with the Hollywood Electric folks about the Zero S's J1772.

It's 120V level 1 charging only Edit: I may have misunderstood this. The onboard charger is 1kw, so it will pull about 8A from the J1772 port, same as the cable that you plug into a standard 120V / 15A socket.

You actually don't need two dedicated circuits to use the quickcharger (2x 1 kw chargers), as they will pull 15-16A and max out one 120V circuit. Two circuits might improve charge speed very slightly.

***

If Level 2 charging with J1772 was available for the Empulse (240V 15A, 3.3kw), it should enable 2h charge times for Empulse 6.0, 3h charge times for Empulse 10.0. Basically, recharge 30 miles of range per hour.

Speculation follows.

Here's a 3.3 kw charger from Delta-Q:
http://www.delta-q.com/products/qmx3_3.html
273 x 200 x 100 mm, 6.2 kg // 10.7" x 7.9" x 3.9", 13.6 lbs

Here's a 3.3 kw charger from Brusa:
http://www.brusa.eu/index.php?id=154&L=1
255 x 250 x 88.5 mm, 6.2 kg // 10.0" x 9.8" x 3.5", 13.6 lbs

Compare to the 1kw charger from Delta-Q:
http://www.delta-q.com/products/quiq.shtml
280 x 246 x 110 mm, <5 kg // 11" x 9.7" x 4.3", <11 lbs

The Zero S uses the 1 kw QuiQ. I don't know what Brammo uses in the Enertia, but it's likely somewhat similar. A 3.3 kw charger is not significantly larger than the Delta-Q 1kw charger, but it is slightly heavier.

The main problem with the two 3.3 kw chargers I linked is that they have a minimum of 200 volt output, appropriate for a > 16 kwh car but not for a smaller bike. The Empulse is in the 88-110 v range (depending on configuration), which is far too low to be charged by these chargers.

Someone may produce a lower-voltage 3.3kw charger. Or Brammo may have the time, money and technical chops to develop one in-house. Regardless, packaging may be a non-consideration but the extra weight and expense may make inclusion as standard equipment dicey.

After a bit more research, I'm pretty sure Brammo is not using a delta Q charger for their on board charging. I believe it is a home brew device since they needed tighter packaging space.