A major part of the bicycle industry is anxiously awaiting the day when Bosch presents its news for the coming season. Why? Well, all brands that install a drive from Bosch have to wait for the launch of the motor supplier. They are only allowed to show their new bikes after that. That day is today. And Bosch comes up with two words – Smart System.
1. Bosch Smart System – Battery PowerTube 750
2. Bosch Smart System – Motor Performance Line CX
3. Bosch Smart System – Control unit LED Remote
4. Bosch Smart System – Display Kiox 300
5. Bosch Smart System – All new eBike Flow App
6. Bosch Smart System – A4 charger
7. Bosch Smart System – Crucial crux
8. Bosch Smart System – A first outlook
9. Bosch Smart System – First spare parts
To the outside world, this is the new magic word. Internally, Bosch simply calls the whole thing BES3, which is less trendy. “BES” is the abbreviation for Bosch Development Stage. The “3” marks a decisive break. With this number, the manufacturer says goodbye to the obligation to ride an e-bike with Bosch drive using a display. With this number, the company from Reutlingen is catching up with the competition in terms of battery capacity. And with this number, Bosch will possibly upset some of you. But more on that later.
1. Bosch Smart System – Battery PowerTube 750
For good reasons, we will first focus on the battery of the Smart System. This is because it provides the next increase in range that many have been longing for. In the end, the battery has a total of 750 watt hours. This puts Bosch on a par with Yamaha, Shimano and Brose. The new value means an increase of 20 percent compared to the previous leader, the Bosch PowerTube with 625 watt hours.
However, not much has changed on the inside. The larger PowerTube contains exactly the same cells that were previously used. At least this year, Bosch has not made any fundamental developments in this area. The increase in range is solely due to the fact that the battery contains more cells. This has two important consequences: Firstly, the battery gains weight. Overall, it is 900 grams more and thus now a total of 4.4 kilograms. And secondly, it is larger than the previous PowerTube 625. In length, it is an increase of seven centimetres.
Bosch keeps the development departments busy
For all bicycle manufacturers who went along with the change to Smart System, this meant a lot of work. Geometries had to be rethought, tubes redesigned and manufactured. All in all, a real challenge. Especially in times when the bicycle industry in Asia is being severely slowed down by a shortage of raw materials and corona protection measures.
The new colossus with its 750 watt hours is also supposed to be expandable in principle with a second battery. Only there is currently no other available with which it could be combined.
Claus Fleischer, Managing Director at Bosch eBike Systems, announced at a press conference during this year’s Eurobike that further, and above all smaller sizes with lower capacities for Smart System are to follow in the coming years. He did not give a more precise time horizon for this.
According to Bosch, the new PowerTube 750 should be half charged within two and a half hours. It takes about six hours to reach the 100-percent mark.
2. Bosch Smart System – Motor Performance Line CX
Meanwhile, nothing has changed on the motor. For the time being, only the Bosch Performance CX is used. It offers a torque of 85 Newton metres with the familiar continuous rated power of 250 watts. Anyone who rides with such a power unit can still look forward to an increase in their own power by a maximum of 340 percent. In terms of dimensions, too, everything remains the same here.
To make the difference to the existing version visible, Bosch has slightly changed the exterior. However, this does not involve any additional cooling elements or the like. Inside, however, the electronics have been completely revised. This is accompanied by the use of new connections on the housing. According to the portal emtb-news.de, the diameter of the connectors has shrunk to six millimetres. In addition, the charging port now looks different from the previous generations of drives. All mechanical parts such as the gearbox have remained unchanged.
3. Bosch Smart System – Control unit LED Remote
Quite the opposite is true for the operation of the system. The control unit on the handlebar is by far the most obvious innovation in the development stage now presented. It takes up more space than the Bosch Compact, for example, and no longer resembles a triangle. Rather, it feels divided into two parts. On the one hand, there is the rectangular shape of the part in which several LEDs are incorporated and which is clearly visible above on the handlebar tube facing you. Inside this section, a Bluetooth module is integrated. On the other hand, the area with the buttons is angled down on the left side. Left, right, plus, minus and the trapezoidal confirmation button. It all looks quite familiar. Anyone who has already had contact with Bosch will probably find their way around very quickly.
Completely new, however, is an on/off button on the narrow side of the control unit facing in the direction of travel. Why does a control unit need such a button? Because in future the Bosch system won’t need anything else to control it. Simply wake up the motor by pressing a button on the unit and off you go.
The most important things at a glance
There are five rectangular LEDs on the unit itself. They indicate the charge status of the battery. Five constantly lit LEDs mean that the battery is full. If only one LED is still lit, you should slowly look for a power socket. On the right, an LED runs along the edges of the unit. It lights up in the colour of the selected support mode. In our opinion, Bosch has solved this very clearly. If you actually set off without a display or smartphone, you are still well informed about the status of the e-drive. By the way, an ambient light sensor integrated in the unit determines how brightly the LEDs light up.
4. Bosch Smart System – The display Kiox 300
Thanks to Bluetooth, the control unit is directly connected to the Kiox display. More precisely, to the Kiox 300 display. That is the name of the device in the world of Smart System. Apart from the name, the Kiox 300 looks like the ordinary Kiox. On the 2-inch colour screen, you can find information such as the cycling speed, the position determined by GPS or the cadence. Other functions such as personalising the screens or recording the data of all devices connected via sensor are also identical. You will only look in vain for the buttons. Since operation is to be exclusively via the LED Remote or your smartphone, Bosch has eliminated the buttons entirely.
Now it transmits
The crucial difference is connectivity. The Kiox 300, control unit and eBike Flow app on your mobile device communicate with each other via a Bluetooth connection. As mentioned, you can do without the screen on the handlebars and use only the control unit for control. This is certainly a very practical option for everyday, shorter journeys. When we think of the display, we immediately consider: What you don’t have with you can’t be damaged or get away.
At the same time, you can use your smartphone as a control centre instead of the Kiox 300. In future, you will no longer need to take a diversion via the display to record your journeys and for navigation. Up to now, this has always required the use of the corresponding bike computer.
5. Bosch Smart System – All new eBike Flow App
This is accompanied by the most important innovation: the introduction of the eBike Flow app. It is the control centre and thus the heart of the new drive generation. The major new features are as follows:
Over-the-air updates
- Transfer of new software functions via Bluetooth directly to the ebike
Activity tracking
- Recording of trip and fitness data such as route, speed, distance, performance of the ebike riders
- Automatic start of data recording when pedalling
- No need to reach for the smartphone
- Currently only usable in association with Apple Health
Individual configuration of the riding modes
- For each riding mode, maximum speed can be set in relation to the assistance, torque and dynamics of the energy supply
- Creation of several profiles possible
Home screen
- Individually configurable opening screen
- Display of crucial information such as connection to the ebike, remaining battery capacity, next workshop appointment and total kilometres travelled
The majority of the functions presented were requested by Bosch some time ago. With this status, the eBike Flow app from Bosch joins the ranks of comparable apps from Shimano or Fazua.
It is available for smartphones with iOS as the operating system as well as for Android. Initially, however, it will be limited to the languages German, English and French. Claus Fleischer announced more at the press conference, without, however, giving a reliable timeframe.
The managing director also did not rule out the possibility that selected features of the apps will only be available for money in the future. However, he did not say anything more specific than that this was theoretically possible.
He was more specific, however, on the topic of Help connect. This app has been available for some time, at least with a SIM card registered in Germany. This function is to become part of the smart system cosmos in the foreseeable future.
6. Bosch Smart System – A4 charger
It has already been mentioned in the sections on the motor and the battery: Smart System works with a different technical standard than the drive generations currently on the market. This makes it necessary to have a separate charger – the Bosch A4. It is a little more compact than the well-known and somewhat bulky Fast Charger 6A. But hardly any of you are likely to be guided by its design when buying a charger. Therefore, this is a side note at best. What is more important is that at the beginning there will only be this one charger anyway.
7. Bosch Smart System – Crucial crux
In the second paragraph, we indicated that not every detail surrounding the BES3 will cause jubilation among e-bike riders, however. This is because Bosch has created a closed system. Everything that falls under the designation Smart System can only be used within these limits. Your previously used displays, batteries, chargers are all incompatible with the 2022 update, which means that in addition to the components mentioned above, the new hardware also includes an associated charger. With its charging current of four amps, this is at least one of the faster of its kind. In view of such details, however, the entire new package loses quite a few sympathy points right away. Despite all the advantages it combines.
Likewise, the switch to 48 volts does not take place this year. There had been lively discussions about this in various forums. Today, at the latest, the speculations have turned out to be just that. For the moment. In addition, unlike the “normal” Kiox, the new Kiox 300 does not provide a charging current for smartphones and similar devices. So, there are enough starting points for a further stage of development.
8. Bosch Smart System – A first outlook
At the press conference, it became clear that in the coming years Bosch will focus fully on the interaction of the eBike Flow app with the ebike and of the ebike with its environment. Claus Fleischer outlined the ebike as an object that will constantly communicate with vehicles, infrastructure and people around it in a digitally connected environment. The bicycle as a device from the world of the IoT – the Internet of things. In this world, the quality of an ebike will be largely defined by which app it can be used with. With autonomous vehicles on our roads on the horizon, this vision cannot come as a complete surprise.
For the near future, this is likely to have the following consequences:
- Absolutely the majority of development work at Bosch will flow into the smart system.
- The focus will be primarily on software developments such as the integration of Help Connect or the introduction of an anti-theft function called Connect Module.
- Typical components such as additional displays and batteries should expand the current not excessively large product range.
- Gaps such as the adaptation of the system to things like eShift will be something Bosch will want to close quite soon.
- The entire product world of the previously known drive generations will become less important for Bosch.
- As things stand, spare parts for these systems will still be available for a very long time and will continue to be manufactured.
9. Bosch Smart System – First spare parts
Although only a few pedelecs have been delivered with the Bosch innovation so far, the manufacturer has already presented selected spare parts. These include, for example, cables in various lengths for connecting the charging sockets and the battery, the speed sensor, a kit for the battery holder and the spoke magnet. The items are expected to be available from the beginning of 2022.
Pictures: Bosch eBike System