BETHEL, CT (BRAIN)—Automotive giant Bosch is entering the bike industry with a new electronic drive system that will be spec’d by Cannondale on its first-ever e-bike.
The high-end Cannondale bike is set to debut at Eurobike and will be sold primarily in Europe, said Bob Burbank, general manager of Cannondale.
The two companies have been developing the product for more than a year with collaboration from engineers on both advanced product teams.
The result is a performance and technology driven e-bike system that promises to be different from anything else on the market, Burbank said.
“We didn’t want a me-too product or slap on a current system, ‘Hey Cannondale’s got an e-bike.’ We wanted to work with a partner to make a system that would stand out.”
The partnership between Cannondale and Bosch is not exclusive, and Bosch will look to sell its drive system to other e-bike manufacturers.
“We are an ideal supplier for bicycle manufacturers,” said Rainer Jeske, head of Bosch Powertrain Systems eBike in a press release, “because Bosch stands for innovation and its key competence areas in the automotive industry, like the electronic control techniques.”
The components of the system are the drive unit with sensors, the battery pack and charger and the control computer.
The headquarters of the new Bosch e-bike product group is in Reutlingen, Germany.
—Nicole Formosa
nformosa@bicycleretailer.com
