Shimano Advanced E-bike System

[flecc]

Shimano have announced their innovative electric bike system with all features integrated including electronic gearshifting of the 8 speed hub gear, Full of great features and all the details on the link below:

Shimano e-bike system
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[eddieo]

24 volt, will it not be a weak performer..... Bosch crank system looks more hopeful

 

[z0mb13e]

24 volt, will it not be a weak performer..... Bosch crank system looks more hopeful

My thoughts exactly - however there is nothing to stop you adding additional battery packs.

I like the fact that it is all integrated and electronic gear shifting should be interesting.

 

[flecc]

24 volt, will it not be a weak performer..... Bosch crank system looks more hopeful

Not necessarily, depends on the design, but Shimano emphasise that they are keeping it a bicycle in all respects, just adding assistance with all the convenience of integrated ancillaries like lighting and electronic gears. We could later see a fully auto gearchange like their three speed one, no need for shifters then.

The good thing with this and the Bosch is that the e-bike motor system field is at last moving more into advanced design territory and away from the crudity and silly gimmicks we've seen too much of previously.
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[eddieo]

So it will come with a wicker basket as standard?

 

[flecc]

So it will come with a wicker basket as standard?

Tut, tut Eddie! I said advanced. It will be a kevlar imitation wicker basket.
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[Fordulike]

3,000 charging cycles, isn't that a bit optimistic?

 

[flecc]

3,000 charging cycles, isn't that a bit optimistic?

For a low powered system with a lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery 3000 charges is possible. They say li-ion battery, but all these lithium batteries are li-ion anyway so it could easily be a lithium iron phosphate one.

The ranges quoted for the 4 Ah are hopelessly optimistic as usual, but hopefully this will only be the start of a series of versions with varying capabilities, rather like their many ranges in other areas.
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[Tex]

I sense the ebike world as we know it just changed in a big way. Why buy rebranded Chinese no-name components when you can buy from one of the most established brands in the world with a fully integrated system which you can the easily mate to your favorite frame/bike/style. Wow. Ditto the Bosch Cannondale. Thanks for the heads up flecc. I'm heartened.

 

[Pedalo]

A bit of googling finds some more pictures.

Pictures by Bikebiz1 - Photobucket

 

[Mussels]

3,000 charging cycles, isn't that a bit optimistic?

It's very heavy for it's capacity so it's quite possible 3,000 cycles is correct, I think the 40km range is optimistic even if the regenerative charging works well.

Electronic gears aren't all that new and I've never seen much enthusiasm for it, the manual Alfine shifter requires a light touch so almost no different to pressing a button instead. Shimano claim that it's done for aerodynamics, I've never heard of an ebiker worrying about the drag coefficient of their cables. There's a good chance it is an expensive gimmick that Shimano are desperate to make fashionable, it wouldn't be the first big fail for them.

 

[Mussels]

I sense the ebike world as we know it just changed in a big way. Why buy rebranded Chinese no-name components when you can buy from one of the most established brands in the world with a fully integrated system which you can the easily mate to your favorite frame/bike/style. Wow. Ditto the Bosch Cannondale. Thanks for the heads up flecc. I'm heartened.

There are Chinese branded components available that I'd trust more than Shimano, I'd still buy the Shimano setup but I wouldn't be an early adopter.
The parts don't seem astounding to me but I expect they will work very well together and will raise the bar for ebikes. I'd be surprised if it's easy to fit to any bike though.

 

[flecc]

I sense the ebike world as we know it just changed in a big way.

I agree Tex, for most of the last decade only Panasonic and to some extent BionX brought any real sophistication to e-bike system design.

Now with Yamaha following Panasonic's route, the new Bosch system and now this fully integrated setup from a big name like Shimano all in quick succession, things are really changing and new benchmarks are being set for other manufacturers to aim for.

I'm sure these newer introductions will have that effect, Panasonic's later unit has carved a huge chunk out of the Chinese hub motor e-bike market by taking a very large share via some 20 brands and they've now added a sophisticated hub motor system as well.
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[Clarkey]

I was on the verge of ordering an Alien or Sunlova kit but this changes everything for me. All my experiences with Shimano equipment have been overwhelmingly positive and I can't imagine that this will be launched half-baked.

Sure, Shimano have had some sales flops like 'coasting' but they always worked and the knowledge they have now gained will integrate nicely with this pedelec system. If this is going to offer a fully automatic 8 speed hub and electric assistance, all centrally controlled, it is going to be a very attractive proposition IMHO.

 

[Mussels]

I was on the verge of ordering an Alien or Sunlova kit but this changes everything for me. All my experiences with Shimano equipment have been overwhelmingly positive and I can't imagine that this will be launched half-baked.

Sure, Shimano have had some sales flops like 'coasting' but they always worked and the knowledge they have now gained will integrate nicely with this pedelec system. If this is going to offer a fully automatic 8 speed hub and electric assistance, all centrally controlled, it is going to be a very attractive proposition IMHO.

I've not seen anything to indicate it's an automatic hub, just electronic.

 

[Clarkey]

I think it has all the ingredients to be fully auto - to quote one of the articles:

"What is in particular interesting about Shimano STEPS is the fact it is a fully integrated system. Some examples: the Nexus 8-speed gear hub is coupled with the torque sensor. With that it gets SEIS, which stands for Shimano Electronic Intelligent System for electronic shifting, specially developed for e-bikes. It is operated through buttons controlling a motor unit attached to the gear hub, allowing for fast and smooth shifting"

As has been noted, the shift effort on a standard Alfine setup is extremely low - I can't see how they could justify the complication of adding a shift motor solely to allow pushbutton operation. The claim that the torque sensor is linked to the hub also seems to indicate that they will use that information to set automatic shift points.

 

[alex_h]

Yes it's all great that Shimano is getting in to this market. I love this brand but I would be very sceptical here. I think these chinese brands as Bafang or Tongxin deliver grat performance that has been tested and what's more important deliver it's al lwell priced.

The 24V 4Ah battery seems to be really small. Even if it's regenerative comparing with 14Ah Wisper battery this won't go that far, will it?

 

[flecc]

No, it's obviously a shortish range and fairly low power system, and as yet we don't know if it will be available in kit form, they may just intend it for manufacturers initially.

As for the gearchange, it may be just push button up/down initially, either cabe or wirelessly linked, but full automation may have to wait. After their successful fully auto 3 speed some years ago they tried to apply the same system to their 7 speed hub but failed at that time.
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[Clarkey]

The 8 speed fully auto 'cyber nexus' groupset is still available (though not in the UK). At least one blogger is almost disturbingly enthusiastic about the performance of it.

The 3 speed auto-d is also still available although the 4 speed version appears to have been discontinued - it was available on Pashley Moultons for a while and I know of one owner who rated it very highly.

 

[flecc]

Thanks for that Clarkey, I didn't realise the 8 speed auto was available elsewhere, so it could be on e-bike system, but possibly as an option.

I can understand the 4 speed auto discontinuation, the basic 4 speed hub itself was discontinued after a series of failures, particularly on the Giant Lafree bikes. It was a bit pointless too, with a gear range slightly narrower than the 3 speed!
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