The DS has been part of Zero’s lineup of electric motorcycles since its first year of wide availability in 2010. It has always been, more or less, a taller version of the brand’s standard “S” model. The vibe is more sport touring than adventure touring, which is probably the ideal form factor for anyone with an urban commute. Now in its third generation, the new-for-2024 model has been seriously upgraded and it has morphed its way into possibly the best daily rider on the planet.
Full Disclosure: Zero shipped me a brand new DS to test for a month. I used my own electricity to charge it up, and returned it in exactly the same condition it was when I received it. I did not take it on any long road trips, I simply used it as a daily commuter, which is the bike’s best use case.
Powered by the same Z-Force 75-7 permanent magnet AC motor that Zero introduced for the 2022 DSR model, the new DS makes an impressive 68 horsepower and 97 pound-feet of torque. That’s certainly plenty for a daily commuter, and it has enough instantly-available torque to really set you back when you romp on it. The 14.4 kWh battery pack is a pretty big one for electric bikes, and is allegedly good for 144 miles of city riding (average of 25 miles per hour), and can run a solid claimed 98 miles at highway speeds. Zero says this bike will run 104 miles per hour before running out of steam, though that’ll seriously impact the bike’s range.
A standard 110V outlet is plenty to charge this bike for daily rider use. It’ll charge from flat to 100 percent in under 10 hours. If you absolutely have to run it flat every day and have a shorter window to charge, a 220V hookup will get this thing up to full in 4.5 hours, and an optional 6 kW rapid charger will juice it up in 1.8 hours. No matter how you shake it, you aren’t taking this bike on big long road trips across the country. It’s definitely intended to ride around as an everyday kind of bike.
I mostly used this bike to commute back and forth to the gym, run occasional errands, and a couple short 30-ish mile highway rides. I never had anything remotely approaching range anxiety, because there’s plenty in here for day-to-day use. It’s not exactly going to take you on any adventures, and you’ll run out of juice chasing the good roads outside your given city, so it’s probably best to either get another bike for those kinds of rides, or trailer this bike to the base of the road and run it before trailering home. Neither scenario is ideal if you’re looking to lose yourself on two wheels with a twisting ribbon of asphalt. But different bikes serve different purposes.
As a city runabout, this is about as comfortable and useable as it gets. With a nice deep seat the DS doesn’t have a very tall standover height and would probably serve well even for shorter riders. There’s plenty of suspension travel and damping for even the worst roads that a pockmarked city like Cleveland, Ohio can throw at you. The DS makes a lot of sense in this low-speed urban environment.
There are lots of things to love about the DS, including the new Cypher III+ operating system, and the trick TFT display. There’s plenty of information available at a glance with this display, and unlike my LiveWire, the display is visible in direct sunlight, thanks to the matte finish and small hood over the screen. One thing I found annoying, however, was that the display still includes the symbol for heated grips, even though this bike doesn’t come with heated grips. That option is for higher-trim models like the DSR/X, but they didn’t program out the little pictogram on the display to remind you that you chose to buy the cheap one.
And in the case of the Zero DS, cheap doesn’t even mean cheap. This bike will run you a staggering $15,995 ($1,000 more than the S that it’s based on.) The more powerful DSR—with an optional 100 horsepower and 169 lb-ft Z-Force 75-10X motor—will run you at least $19,995, while the more off-road appropriate DSR/X comes in at $22,995. That’s some serious coin for a daily commuter motorcycle, but if you’re committed to the EV life and want to ride two wheels every day, this is maybe your best bet. The DS has a good chunk more range than a comparably-priced LiveWire S2 Mulholland, for example, and it is also going to be a lot more comfortable for daily use.
My daily rider is a 2020 Harley-Davidson LiveWire, and this was honestly a welcome change from my bike. This is a much more relaxed and comfortable ride. The seating position is much more upright, and the bars are high, which made my wrists much more comfortable. The LiveWire rides sportier, and certainly has the edge on a fast road or race track, but the DS is definitely the better surface street commuter.
The DS, however, doesn’t have quite the competence of my admittedly much more expensive bike. The materials and aesthetic feel slightly less refined. The J. Juan brakes on the Zero are plenty to stop the bike, but I found them overly noisy and lacking positive feel to my gloved hand. The DS is a much more plastic-intensive design, and everything you touch feels a bit bulky. It’s also a good bit slower than my bike. The DSR model solves that gripe, but it’s worth noting.
I did, however, love the Showa-developed suspension with easily adjustable rear preload. Stylistically the blunted nose isn’t my cup of tea, but the knob to adjust the windshield height is easily reachable and can be quickly managed at speed. There are a ton of little design bits on this bike that just make living with it easy. I particularly loved the large storage container where the “tank” would be. It isn’t big enough to swallow a helmet, but you can definitely run to the store and pick up dinner (no pizzas) with it. And reverse! Reverse is just such a cool party trick for a motorcycle to have. I love it.
If you’re complaining about range on an electric motorcycle, you just don’t get it. And that’s OK. These bikes aren’t for everyone, but for the very small segment of the market that loves them, this is a pitch right in the strike zone. There’s so much I love here. And just a few things I don’t. For the price, it’ll still get beat in a lot of categories by gas bikes, but I definitely “get” it. If it fits your life and riding needs, you’ll be very happy on a DS. If you have the cash for more power, get the DSR.