Interesting that they have a rear hub motor variant. Panasonic did a two year trial in Japan on 300 of their bikes with the front motor variant, but I haven't seen anyone using it until now.
We did see an earlier form of this front motor on the Kalkhoff Agattu F model, but that only had the regeneration without the braking, the latter still being on trial then. Apparently the brake works really well, but I think the earlier Panasonic claims of a 50% range increase due to regen are ridiculous. Past regen experience suggests maybe 10% at best. However, reports on this system are that the motor freewheels very well, overcoming the drag objection that most previous regen systems have suffered from.
