"The smart system" is what Bosch calls the latest version of its Performance Line CX E-MTB drive. Included in the package: a new app, a large battery with 750 watt hours, as well as a new display and a modern remote. "Smart" refers to the extensive networking of the individual components with each other and the e-bike drive with the user and the internet. Bosch wants to use this to make the drive fit for the future.
The smart functions can primarily be used via the New E-Bike Flow app. Probably the most exciting features are Over-the-air updates and individually customisable support levels. At last! Topics where Bosch has lagged far behind the competition in recent years. Further updates were to follow. In the meantime, Bosch has honoured this promise and introduced numerous new features that could only be put into practice thanks to the computing power of the Smart System. From major innovations such as the new ABS for e-bikesto smaller updates via app, other battery sizes or new accessories such as the Smartphone grip or Mini Remote and System Controller.
New for 2022: the smart system from Bosch in the video presentation.
The facts about the new Bosch Performance Line CX with Smart System
- Powertube 750 battery with 750 watt hours
- New remote unit and new display, additional retrofit options
- Updates via app
- Support levels can be customised
- All components are not compatible with the previous Bosch system compatible
The new battery
More watt hours, more range. This trend on e-mountainbikes seems to be continuing unabated. With the Powertube 750, Bosch is adding another 20 per cent battery capacity to the previous 625. In the coming model year, you will hardly see any e-MTBs with less than 700 watt hours from the mid-price range upwards.
However, this also has disadvantages. The 750 Wh battery is significantly heavier and also considerably longer than the previous top battery from the Swabians. The 750 weighs just under 4.4 kilos in the EMTB lab - a whopping 800 grams more than the Powertube 625. The basic shape of the battery remains identical, but the large energy carrier is almost seven centimetres longer.
There will be no other battery sizes for the new system in the first model year. On the one hand, this presents bike designers with an enormous task, and on the other hand, it will probably be almost impossible to stow a second battery in a rucksack. Update: Bosch has now also published a 500 and a 625 battery for the Smart System.
We can only hope that one charge of the new energy bomb will be enough for the vast majority of tours anyway. The previous Powertube batteries delivered an astonishing amount of energy for their nominal size, which makes the Bosch bikes such as those from Cube traditionally has a very wide reach.
We will test in detail how the new battery compares to other systems and its predecessor. You'll find the results in EMTB 5/2021 - on sale from 12 October.
The LED Remote control unit
With the new remote lever, Bosch is offering a compact, rather minimalist solution for controlling the Performance CX for the first time. The control unit can be used without a display and shows the support level and battery charge status via coloured LEDs.
The remote unit is mounted on the handlebars directly on the left grip and has a relatively large number of buttons for controlling the drive and the optional display. The lever is connected to the E-Bike Flow app via Bluetooth.
The Kiox 300 display
The new Kiox display does not need any buttons at all and is now controlled via the LED Remote. Mini Remote controlled. Bosch is building the cockpit on a modular basis, so to speak, so that manufacturers and e-bikers can decide individually whether they only want to use the minimalist remote solution or integrate the Kiox 300 into the cockpit for the full range of functions.
The display can be connected and disconnected quickly and easily. The Kiox 300 is also connected to the app and the internet via the remote unit. This means that the display can also be updated from the couch. The navigation functions have been expanded compared to its predecessor.
The E-Bike Flow app
The centrepiece of the new "smart system" is the app, which goes by the name of E-Bike Flow. With this extensive networking, Bosch is responding to the criticism of recent years and is bringing the drive system up to date in terms of connectivity.
Users no longer have to go to the dealer to update the system, but can do this themselves via an app on their own smartphone "over the air" - i.e. via a wireless connection. In addition, the support levels can finally be customised to suit individual needs. The networked system is to be expanded even further in the coming years, gradually providing Bosch bikers with new functions.
The new engine
The Performance CX remains largely untouched in terms of its inner values, and the name has not changed either. The ride feel and power delivery should not differ from the previous model. But the connections of the new drive will. Cables and connections have been made significantly slimmer and should enable the latest technology.
The sticking point: the hardware update cancels out compatibility. None of the components of the new system are compatible with existing drives up to and including model year 2021. The new 750 Powertube batteries also have new connections, meaning that they do not work with existing Bosch components - including chargers.
Bosch's new 750cc Powertube: This is how far you can go with the new Bosch Performance Line CX
750 watt hours - that sounds like a lot, but neither gigantic nor revolutionary. After all, some manufacturers have been working with similarly powerful batteries for several years now. However, we know from countless test and measurement rides in recent years that Bosch batteries are traditionally particularly powerful and release a lot of energy. So what's in the Powertube 750? Since the end of 2021, we have been able to carry out numerous test rides with the new Performance Line CX with Smart System. Always with identical parameters: Turbo mode, a rider weight of 90 kilograms, the same steep tarmac climb and 150 watts of pedalling power.
In most cases, the Bosch Smart System delivered impressive results. Although later candidates did not come close to the 2050 metres in altitude of the first bike with prototype software, the new Bosch is also a reliable partner for long tours with altitudes of around 1850 metres and converts the nominally "only" 750 watt hours into impressive ranges. However, the competition in the 700cc class (Specialized 700, Darfon 726, Bulls 750, Rotwild 750) is now at a similar level. The range leader, Canyons Spectral:On with 900 battery have to let the Bosch bikes pull away in the end.
Unfortunately, at 4350 grams, the new Bosch battery is also quite heavy compared to its capacity. It outweighs the above-mentioned competition by 400 to 800 grams. The long shape of the battery also makes the bikes quite heavy - new Bosch bikes weighing less than 24 kilograms are in short supply even in the high-end segment, while some of the competition with 700 watt-hours is scratching at the 22-kilo mark. Even the entry-level version of the aforementioned Spectral:On with its huge 900 battery weighs less than most new Bosch bikes at 23.7 kilograms. So if you take the energy yield per gram as a yardstick, the new Powertube performs somewhat below average. Especially when the total weight of the bikes is taken into account.
Conclusion on the new, smart system from Bosch:
With its updates, Bosch has eliminated the main criticisms of the Performance CX drive. The Swabians have really stepped on the gas when it comes to connectivity in particular - and from our initial impression, they have done their homework. The new remote unit and the display update are also big steps forward. With the 750 battery, Bosch is heating up the range race once again - good for Alpine bikers who want to cover long distances. But this also has its disadvantages. The new batteries cause headaches for bike designers due to their length, and the additional weight will result in even heavier e-bikes.
The lack of compatibility with the existing system and all its components is a bitter blow for anyone who already has one or even several Bosch bikes in their household. Battery swapping or charger sharing? Out of the question! Likewise an update of the old system. We also take a critical view of the fact that manufacturers will have to install a 750 battery in the coming model year if they want to use the new system. Because sometimes less can be more.
Interview with Bosch CEO Claus Fleischer on the new Performance Line CX with Smart System
Technical advances sometimes require unpopular decisions. Claus Fleischer, Managing Director of Bosch eBike Systems, explains why there is neither backwards compatibility nor different battery sizes.
EMTB: The new components are not compatible with any part of the existing system. Why is that?
CLAUS FLEISCHER: In other industries and areas of life, such technological leaps are part of everyday life. If you have a technical system on the market, at some point you reach its limits and simply can't integrate any more new functions with the existing hardware and software. We have really exhausted the current system. At some point, the hardware, micro-controllers and our basic software simply couldn't cope with any more. We would not have been able to build over-the-air updates and the Flow app on the existing infrastructure. And then there is a second aspect. If you are fully committed to connectivity and want to offer additional, comprehensive digital services, data protection and data security become crucial. The encryption technology we use for this goes far beyond what would have been possible on the old architecture. And if you're doing a comprehensive redesign, it can't be backwards compatible. Otherwise you'll be lugging around too many old things that block your options for future developments.
And there wouldn't even have been room for the old charger?
We are preparing for something that is yet to come. The topic of public charging infrastructure. With the new technology, we will be able to offer functions in the future that would not be possible with today's chargers. Of course, the customer can't know that yet. In two or three years' time, when everything we can offer on this basis is out, the discussion about a lack of compatibility will definitely be forgotten. But to mention this briefly: The existing system generation will of course continue to be kept up to date. We have also recently introduced new features for this generation.
There is more to the Smart System than a large battery and a new display. What is your vision?
We wanted to merge the physical experience of riding an e-bike with the digital experience of operating an app. In future, we want to offer more digital solutions based on the eBike Flow app. More functions, more features. They should be both more fun and safer. This could involve theft protection or - at some point in the future - communication with other vehicles or the infrastructure. For us, the smart system is a new technology platform that paves the way for the future. The products we have now presented are just the first building blocks for everything that will come in the next three years.
With 750 watt hours, really long tours are possible. In your opinion, is that the optimum for e-mountain bikers?
750 watt hours, that was simply our portfolio gap. We didn't have a battery that big. So we launched the new flagship first. But the little brothers and sisters will also come. We are reorganising our entire portfolio, but we can't do that in one year. To come back to the question: There is no such thing as THE e-mountain biker. It's very individual. You can't currently get much more energy than 750 watt hours into the down tube. And of course, this has also made the bikes heavier. For the touring e-biker who doesn't care about the last kilogram, 750 watt hours are certainly ideal. Riding without range anxiety! For sporty riders, weight and riding dynamics are more important. They will probably be happier with 625 or 500 watt hours.
The battery is relatively heavy. Wouldn't there be a lot to get out of it?
Safety is our top priority and we make no compromises in this respect. This also means that we will never have the lightest battery. We invest more in the safety of the pack and each individual cell. And if I want to make sure that the battery never reaches a critical state, I have to invest in material.
Florentin Vesenbeckh
Editor CvD
