Bosch Hopes U.S. Market Embraces e-bike +VIDEO

By Henny Hemmes
Senior European Editor

BOXBERG, Germany - June 8, 2015: The Robert Bosch company is benefitting from the growing popularity worldwide of the electric bicycle. In Europe alone, the company is working together with more than 50 brands for the supply of the electric drives and batteries. In my own country (The Netherlands), famous for the huge amount of bicycles on the roads, and even more on their own bike paths, the e-bike is a hit. I have no exact figures, but a bike store owner told me that some 15 to 20 percent of the new bicycles he is selling is an e-bike. That is a surprising amount, especially when you realize that prices start at about 2,500 euros (approx. $2,880). Last year, global sales amounted to more than 30 million units and market watchers expect that to be 40 million by the end of 2022.

The new generation e-bikes have become a familiar sight in daily traffic. A while ago, electric bikes were not particularly in fashion. They had a dull image, mainly because they were used by older and/or somewhat less active people. But with modern technology the e-bike is getting trendy. With smaller electric drive lines (engine/transmission) and compact batteries they are hardly recognizable as such and are used for short range (up to 15-20 miles) transportation, for touring and even as a way to become fit or keep in shape.

You may understand that I was not surprised to see a sturdy e-bike at the huge Bosch booth at Auto Shanghai this spring The electric bicycle showcased the company’s latest technology in this respect, with a compact electric drive unit in the pedal box and a small battery attached to the frame that you can unlock and take inside your house or garage for charging.

Even those visitors of the auto show, who had no intention to sort out what automotive innovations the German supplier had on display, will have noticed the sporty looking mountain bike. America is not very familiar with this type of two-wheel transportation, but that may change, if it's up to Bosch…

The company has been selling its eBike Systems in 2011, and commenced sales in North America last year from a new Southern California branch.

Bosch has developed an efficient electric drive (engine/transmission) and batteries. The company’s e-drive unit is always placed around in pedal box for optimal weight distribution and balance.

There are three types of e-drive systems: Classic+, Active Line, and Performance Line. The latter is demonstrated by the white/red mountain bike that also was equipped with the recently introduced Nyon onboard computer. This unit is mounted on the handlebars and is easy to operate. It can be linked to the smart phone with Bosch eBike Connect. Cyclists are offered several applications, such as for speed, GPS, navigation and fitness analysis.

Last Summer Bosch opened a new regional business unit with technical and commercial experts in the Chinese city of Suzhou. In China, the company realized a growth of more than 20 per cent in 2014 and hopes to get a strong tail wind with respect to sales of eBikes in the U.S.

The eBike system offers cyclists a choice between four assistance modes from eco to sport, and with the battery assist adding thrust until the rider hits 20 mph.