Electric Bike Manufacturers by Motor and Battery System
Compiled by Richard Peace of Excellent Books, and co-author of Electric Bicycles
Crank Motors
Bafang Formerly known as 8 Fun or Suzhou Bafang. 2015 saw a major launch of their crank drive (Max Drive) with a European office and major European brands adopting the drive. Also make geared hub motors and numerous kits.
Bofeili Chinese maker with distinctive looking circular crank drive. Popular in Canada and the US as eProdigy.
Bosch European crank drive market leader from the 2010s but rapidly being caught up by Shimano.
Brose German manufacturer of crank motor initially popular on high end mountain bikes but now appearing on many other design too. Also the basis of the belt drive CeBS system from corporate giant Contitech.
Cevedale Crank motor housed in the downtube from a company based in Taiwan.
DAPU Appear to be Japanese designed but with a presence in China. Also make geared and gearless motors.
Electragil Unusual disc motor sitting on the non-chainwheel side of the bike. IN LIQUIDATION FROM 2014
Evelo Easily recognisable by the cylinder under the bike frame. Evelo is US branded but one of the commonest makes of this motor system mass-produced in China. The same motor is also seen branded as Aseako in Austalia.
Greentrans Taiwanese crank motor.
Kalkhoff Impulse EVO Version 2 of this high quality German crank drive system has new features, including Shift Sensing for smooth gear changing and Climb Assist for smoothing out power delivery. 612Wh battery also from Kalkhoff with . The 2014 version of the Impulse 2 system claimed to be 50% more powerful than the Bosch system and came in 250W and 350W (superfast 28mph rated) versions. From 2015 relaunched system was the Impulse EVO with smartphone compatible display.
MPF High quality motor used by several high quality manufacturers.
Nidec Copal Lightweight crank drive from Japan.
Optibike Website says their crank motors have been ‘designed from the ground up’ and their own branded bikes are ‘hand-built in Boulder Colorado’.
Panasonic One of the originators of the crank drive, now somewhat , though they are now venturing into new technical territory with their Multi-Speed Assist crank drive which combines a two speed gearbox with the motor.
Rocky Mountain Canadian designed e-MTB system with high capacity 48V batteries.
Shimano Steps A new relatively light crank motor rapidly gaining ground on market leader Bosch.
TranzX Part of the JD group which manufactured bike components, TranzX was launched in 1992 to develop electric bike systems.
TQ (Clean Motor) Claimed weight 4.5kg with pedelec, S-pedelec and e-bike modes. A new 2014 motor now also comes in a 75kmh Race (R-pedelec) version.
Yamaha PW series new for 2014 and used by Haibike MBs and Batavus.
Gear-less Motors
AEG Rear transverse flux motor and crank mounted ‘disc’ motor. The AEG brand has been bought by Benchmark who launched these systems under the AEG label, Benchmark being subsequently bought by ContiTech.
Benchmark Neodrive / Xion High end rear hub system.
Biactron / Klever Mobility German manufacturer of own brand system for own brand bike.
BionX Long time gear-less motor maker. Launched the extraordinary D-series in 2015.
Electric Torque Machines US design and Taiwanese production and used in bikes such as the Swiss Stromer.
GO Swissdrive High quality Swiss system with smartphone linked display from 2014.
Kappstein Gearless motor with 2 automatic gears. Also produce a geared motor with 3 manual gears (see below). Designed in Australia & China and made in China.
Neo Drive Controller and torque sensor integrated into rear hub regenerative motor.
Heinzmann DirectPower Revitalised range in 2014, with 25kmh/45kmh and 250/500W variants.
Sparta ION Introduced in 2003 and now used by Gazelle, Ghost and Koga. A high quality pioneer. Now produce an ION branded crank drive system too in cooperation with Yamaha (via parent company Accell).
Stromer / A2B / Syno Good quality gear-less motor appearing on several makes. Hard to trace who exactly makes it!
TDCM Gear-less hub motors in 250W and 500W versions from Taiwan.
Twinburst French company pioneering two-wheel drive transmission with motors in both wheels.
Zehus WIZE hub Formerly FlyKly, a rear hub system integrating almost all components into it and featuring Bluetooth wireless control.
Geared Motors
Bafang Formerly known as 8 Fun or Suzhou Bafang. 2015 saw a major launch of their crank drive (Max Drive) with a European office and major European brands adopting the drive. Also make crank drive systems and kits.
Eego Micro 120W motors for micro folding bikes.
Giant Sync Drive Giant’s rear and front hub gear motors developed in conjunction with Yamaha.
Heinzmann Very longstanding geared hub motor with a reputation for toughness in applications where weight is not critical eg town bikes and cargo bikes. With the arrival of a gear-less cousin this motor is now branded as ‘classic.’
Kappstein Geared motor with three integrated hub gears. Also do a gear-less motor (see above). Designed in Australia & China and made in China.
SRAM E-matic Rear-wheel hub includes a torque-sensor, controller, motor, and an automatic transmission system.
SR Suntour Geared S-pedelec hub motor
Tongxin Quiet and quite powerful hub motors relying on friction not gear teeth. Used by Ansmann and Nano amongst others.
Vivax Assist Tiny seatpost tube housed motor driving directly onto the bottom bracket axle.
Power-assist Kits
Bafang BD S01 (UK version = Mojo and BD SO2 (with torque sensor) Chinese crank drive system based around a pedal movement sensor (no torque sensor) but a powerful throttle option too. Now rebranded ECO.
BionX Long time gear-less motor maker. Launched the extraordinary D-series in 2015.
Conv-E Geared front hub motor made for quick installation. Designed in the UK and made and assembled in Poland (information in 2014).
Ezee An early industry presence making a comeback after battery difficulties. No current UK representation.
Heinzmann Geared and gear-less kits. The geared kits are favoured for heavy duty applications and the gear-less for leisure use.
Sunstar Japanese in origin, now based in Switzerland. Beautifully-engineered crank motor. Left the electric bike market completely in 2017.
Superpedestrian Producers of the Copenhagen Wheel, an all in one hub containing all the electric bike elements.
Series Hybrid
Series hybrid’s are chainless designs that use your pedalling action to generate power for the motor. The idea is appealing but the efficiency is limited and the ride quality not always particularly great .
Bike2 Clean looking design from Denmark
Mando Footloose Folding design by Mark Sanders
X-PESA Due to launch on the market in 2014. Developed by German giant bike conglomerate MIFA. Future of company uncertain after insolvency in 2014 but still trading in 2015 under new owners.
In Development
Bikeee Geared bottom bracket style kit from Italy that has been in development for a while.
Binova Bottom bracket replacement style kit from Germany.
Bionicon Yet another bottom bracket-style motor designed as an almost universal fit to existing bike frames. Motor itself developed in Germany and branded as E-RAM.
Bizmoz Crank kit claiming unique patented magnet technology. Italian technical design.
BMZ BMZ started life as a battery manufacturer but are now making moves into the motor market with both crank drive and hub drive components.
Daymak Beast Canadian off road ‘Beast’ featuring a direct drive motor with the option of lead-acid batteries.
E-novia Bike + Milan based research project on regenerative power.
GeoOrbital US design that looks to place all elements of the system inside a wheel; they remain stationary and the rim revolves.
Hubs Master Taiwan company developing an ‘all in one’ wheel.
Michelin E-Drive Interesting looking friction drive with bespoke Michelin tyre, supposedly due early 2018.
Neox Ingenious looking German kit mounting to non drive side of the pedal cranks.
Velocite A hugely futuristic design, aiming to integrate motor technology into the design of the bike itself. Developed by Lightweight, German carbon fibre specialists
Vinka Appears to be a Japanese firm with Chinese offices making crank drives and automotive parts. No other info apart from this so these interesting looking motors may or may not have been released onto the market.
Battery Manufacturers
Bosch The Bosch system uses 36V 300Wh and 400Wh batteries. Their power tool batteries are also used by Nano and ARCC.
KULR Specialists in thermal management of lithium batteries – ie preventing overheating and battery fires
Mac Allister Now out of production. Small 4Ah 36V (144Wh) batteries manufactured for a range of power tools sold via the UK’s B&Q DIY chain and sold briefly with the Nano-Brompton system (see Tongxin above under kits).
Phylion Traditionally a maker of budget batteries with a poor reputation for reliability. Has opened offices in the Netherlands.
Samsung South Korean firm with a reputation for reliability
Sanyo Purchased by Panasonic in 2009.
Sony
Simplo The second biggest e-bike battery producer after Bosch, based in Taiwan and initially specialising in notebook batteries before diversifying.
