From new mid-drive motors to more compatibility with third-party components and technologies, and a pilot project for battery sharing, Yamaha Motor has a lot to talk about when it comes to next season.
Yamaha Motor was an early mover in the e-bike segment with its PAS system in the 1990s, and it continues making headlines. Most recently this spring, when the Japanese corporation acquired Brose’s e-bike division—which has since been rebranded as Qore—and this year at Eurobike, where it showed three new mid-drive units.
The PW-X4 is the new flagship e-drive system for eMTBs. With a peak power of 800W and 100Nm of maximum torque, this mid-motor is on par with the most powerful motors on the market. Being a 48V system, the PW-X4 provides this support over a wide bandwidth of cadences, and does so instantaneously from the first pedal thanks to the company’s Zero Cadence technology. Thanks to the magnesium motor housing, this performance does not come with added weight, as the motor unit weighs a svelte 2.7kgs. Batteries come in either 560Wh or 840Wh versions. Both are identical in diameter but differ in lengths.
The PW-S3 motor unit shares many features of the top-tier motor, with slightly less support at a lower price point. It also comes in an Easy version for commuter bikes and a Cargo version for hauling big loads.
Yamaha also launched its first dedicated light-support mid-drive unit at Eurobike with the PW-L1. Its motor unit weighs 2kg and delivers a maximum torque of 50Nm in regular use and 60Nm in boost mode.
With PW-Link, Yamaha has made the move to 48V, and, in a push for more OE business, is opening its ecosystem to work with components and technologies from other companies. One example would be cloud connectivity, where an early partnership is happening with Comodule, another would be to bring ABS braking technology to e-bikes using Yamaha’s latest-generation e-drive systems. Yamaha has also built in a phone-as-a-key function that allows retailers to register an e-bike when it is sold and link both the bike and the e-drive system to the phone of the buyer. With batteries, Yamaha, in close cooperation with Panasonic, has focused on safety and protection from fires.
Lastly, Yamaha has founded Enyring as a battery-as-a-service provider. A pilot project for a subscription-based e-bike battery sharing program has already started in Amsterdam and Berlin. “Taking the battery out of the equation lowers the retail price of e-bikes, and you do not have to worry about a battery deteriorating over time either,” Neville Cragg, account manager at Yamaha Motor’s Smart Vehicle Power Division said at this year’s Eurobike.
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