Bosch enables ebikes to go further and smarter
Bosch has presented its innovations for the upcoming e-bike season including a smart system and a new app for more connectivity. The German engineering and technology company has also revealed a new battery – its largest e-bike battery to date – with a capacity of 750 Wh.
According to Bosch eBike Systems, the smart system consists of the ‘eBike Flow’ app, the control unit, display, battery and drive unit. The drive unit itself is only minimally adapted for the 2022 season. This involves a new circuit board that upgrades the ‘Drive Unit Performance Line CX’ for the smart system. The mechanics and the electric motor still correspond to the 2021 vintage.
Riders will find the app useful for integrating with fitness apps, customising riding modes and recording riding activities automatically. The latter uses the bike’s sensors to begin the activity recording automatically. This means riders wanting to track their route do not need to fumble for their phones while riding to manually click “record.”
According to the manufacturer, the eBike Flow app will be the “central connection to the eBike and thus the key to the connected biking experience.” Over-the-air updates are also possible via the app, which is supposed to keep the electric bicycle up to date and add further features – here, for example, riding modes can be individually adjusted (previously a paid premium feature), activities can be recorded and shared with other fitness apps.
Another important component is the LED Remote control unit. The small, robust unit is mounted on the handlebar and can be operated with a thumb. The battery status, as well as the respective support level, can be read via the eponymous LED. With the control via the LED Remote, the e-bike can also be ridden without a display – since especially with e-mountain bikes, the display is often omitted.
A display is still available as an option. Fitness and riding data can be read via the unit called Kiox 300. The Kiox 300 does without buttons, the control is via the LED Remote unit.
Bosch is also aiming to integrate Bike-to-X communication as part of the internet-of-things (IoT) framework. In a very practical sense, this means being able to connect with cars and trucks so that the e-bikes can give early warning signals, better protecting riders where there are no dedicated bicycle lanes or paths.
“While the Car-to-X communication is slowly advancing, the Bike-to-X communication will certainly remain a pipe dream for many years to come. But we see great potential here to make eBiking even safer,” says Claus Fleischer, business manager of Bosch eBike Systems.
For particularly long tours and many meters of altitude, Bosch will also offer a 750 Wh battery in the 2022 model year. The PowerTube 750 weighs 4.4 kilograms, but can still be integrated into the e-bike frame. With the 4A charger, the battery can be fully charged in six hours, and it is half full in two hours.
Micah Toll from electrek comments: “It’s also great to see battery capacity continue walking upwards. Another 20% range is a nice boost. It’s more than most people need for city riding, but off-road riding eats battery capacity for breakfast. So I’ll take any extra 20% I can get, please and thank you.”
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