Global automotive business to supply BH Bikes with new eBike motors
As the global automotive industry makes its move toward eMobility, a changing of the guard is becoming increasingly visible in the traditional cycling industry. A radical change to the Cycling Industry landscape is taking place as new entrants via for future customers.
This past week saw a business few cyclists will have heard of, SEG Automotive, launch a new eBike motor supplier partnership with BH bikes. If you’ve read that sentence and found yourself asking, “SEG who?”, here’s why its big news. 100 years of auto industry experience. 7000 global employees. 2023 global revenue: $2.37 billion (For context, Shimano 2022 revenue $4.843B, across all sector).
SEG Automotive describes itself as, “a hidden champion of the automotive industry, supplying virtually all major manufacturers and powering over 300 million vehicles on the road today with their e-machines.”
With its BH bikes partnership, the Germany-based global company is entering the market for eBikes for the first time.
The new motor is a mid mounted unit, “with a compact design and optimal integration into the frame. Weighing in at less than 2.6kg and equipped with a 36V battery, the engine sports a peak power of 600W and up to 400% maximum support. All performance numbers can be tailored to the customer’s individual needs – as can the housing design and the software.”
Tradition meets reliability
“Like us, SEG Automotive has a history of performance, reliability, and competitiveness dating back over 100 years,” states BH Bikes. “Having such a strong partner close to us, with this level of experience in highly efficient electric motors, gives us the opportunity to continue riding at the front of the e-bike movement.”
European design and manufacturing
The drive units have been designed and developed in SEG Automotive’s plant in Cantabria, Treto – and they will also be produced in this location, which itself has a history of producing electric motors dating back more than 60 years.
Iñaki Calvo, Treto Plant Manager, mentions that they have added key competencies in electronics, hardware and software, which allows them to bring to the market new solutions for sustainable mobility.
“In fact, we are already developing a further evolution of this e-bike drive that is even more compact and efficient – and will bring this solution also to other markets in, and beyond, Europe.”
Driving sustainable mobility
The four-year contract with BH marks SEG Automotive’s entry into the eBike market – and is a significant puzzle piece in the company’s ‘We are the motor – for the mobility of today and tomorrow’ vision.
“SEG Automotive has the know-how, the track record, and the technology to power all kinds of vehicles, and we have been expanding our product portfolio to enable existing and new ways of sustainable mobility,” Explains Ferdinando Sorrentino, CEO of the German-based company.
The first bikes featuring SEG Automotive’s new engine are slated to become commercially available already in 2024.
In addition to e-drives for cars and commercial vehicles, this also includes dedicated solutions for light electric mobility. On the market already are an engine and electric controller for e-motorbikes, as well as a range of e-motors specifically for the Asian market to power various electric two- and three-wheelers.
