Bosch Says System for e-Scooters in the Pipeline at e-Bike Production Start

MONDEVILLE, France – End December Bosch started series production of its e-Bike system which was launched at the Eurobike show in September 2010. First shipments to bicycle producers will take place this month. At a media event on the start of the production in the company’s French Mondeville facility, a Bosch spokesperson said to Bike Europe that systems for e-Scooters are in the pipeline.

The debut of electronics giant Bosch in the e-Bike market wasn’t flawless last September. At Eurobike test runs with bikes equipped with the Bosch bracketdrive system showed some teething troubles in the form of excessive vibration and noise. During the production start Bosch reported to have taken notice of the criticisms voiced in September. The noise and vibration problems are solved in the first mass-produced e-Bike components, ensured Bosch.

This month Bosch will start delivering its bracketdrive system to 13 bike producers that operate 16 brand names. Bosch claims that its system offers lots of design possibilities making it suitable for almost all bike categories; for mountain bikes, trekking bikes and city bikes.

The Bosch system offers many settings for regulating the power assistance. Next to the four main modes - eco, tour, sport and speed - each has three sub-positions. The company says that the settings are targeted to specific bike categories. For a mountain bike Bosch claims that the offered support is more dynamic than for a trekking bike, where the range is of greater importance. Bosch also claims that its drive system is perfectly suited to be used in combination with internal hub gears.

Remarkably is that Bosch - generating a yearly revenue of close to 50 billion euro - with its extensive network in and outside Europe, does not take the after sales service for its e-bike system in its own hands. This is outsourced to Magura, the hydraulic brake specialist in the international bicycle industry. Magura offers a complete after sales service package for the Bosch products; including a hotline service for dealers; spare parts distribution; handling of warranty cases as well as dealer training.
 
At the production start Bosch said it is working on an electric drive system for scooters which is 'in the pipeline'. Different to the e-bike drive system the e-scooter business of Bosch is in the hands of Bosch-China in Shanghai.