OpenZero
The machine is not dead.
The support contract is.
A 2014 Zero FX electric motorcycle, rebuilt to run without the manufacturer. No proprietary box left between the battery and the motor.
Manifesto
Same motor. Different owner.
What was done
A black box removed, not replaced.
Zero's 2013–2016 bikes die one way: the battery ages, the BMS inside it stops cooperating with the vehicle controller, and a mechanically perfect motorcycle becomes scrap because two proprietary boxes no longer talk. The motor, the controller and the chassis are fine.
OpenZero removes the dependency. The vehicle controller, Zero's BMS, the encrypted CAN between them, the dash and the cloud app are gone. What remains is the industrial hardware the bike was built around: a Sevcon Gen4 motor controller, a PMAC motor, a contactor, a frame. On top sits a home-built 96 V LiFePO4 pack with an off-the-shelf smart BMS. Everything in the power path can be inspected, measured and replaced with a multimeter, a wrench and a CAN adapter.
No proprietary dependency in the power path
Anything between battery and motor has a public manual or is a passive part. Static, conservative limits in the controller; cell protection in the BMS; no bridge firmware between them.
Manufacturer documents only
Cells, controller, BMS and gauge are specified from datasheets. Marketplace listings were wrong on cell dimensions, C-rate and cycle life, and are not sources.
Everything written down
Decisions with dates and reasons, measurements, wiring tables, controller objects, BMS settings, so the next owner of a dead Zero can repeat it. Applies to every Zero built on a Sevcon Gen4: FX, FXS, FXE, S, DS, SR, DSR from 2013 on.
Read, watch, repeat
This is a 96 to 110 V DC system with a 52 Ah pack behind it. The notebook records what was done and why, not what is safe for you. A fully assembled pack delivers thousands of amps into a dropped tool. If that sentence is new to you, read the controller manual and the cell datasheet before the wiring tables.