E-Bikes at CES 2022: How E-bikes and e-mobility stole the show
Jan 12, 2022
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We were supposed to go see the latest e-bikes at CES this year, but for reasons that start with “C” and end with “OVID,” we stayed home and watched the show unfold through a computer screen.
The yearly CES show in Las Vegas is one of the world’s largest stages for consumer electronics companies to show off their latest and greatest. With record growth over the past several years, electric bikes and other micro mobility solutions were set to steal the show this year, and they did not disappoint.
From e-bikes with record-setting battery range to electrified ways to travel over snow, CES 2022 brought a number of new innovations and shined a very bright light on electric mobility. We may have missed the show in person, but we logged in virtually to see what brands were bringing to the table.
Here’s the cool new e-bikes and e-bike-adjacent things we missed playing with at CES 2022:
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Delfast Top 3.0
Once you’re already the Guiness World Record holder for the longest range e-bike, what’s more left for you to do? Try to build a bike that goes further.
Delfast unveiled their new Top 3.0 model, a very dirt bike looking e-bike that promises a range of up to 200 miles on a single charge. Though it has cranks and pedals, the Top 3.0’s spec sheet quickly begins to look more like an electric motorcycle than an e-bike.
Though Delfast says the Top 3.0’s speed can be limited to Class 2 settings, marketing materials and Delfast’s website boast the bike’s claimed 50 mph (80 kph) “default” speed and 56 mph (90 kph) “max” speed. There’s also the 3,000W motor, which, combined with those eye-watering speeds, make this e-bike less of an e-bike and more of an electric motorcycle. That is, unless you change the speed settings using the app.
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The Bosch Smart System
Bosch’s Smart System may not be brand new, but now it’s award winning.
Representing the next generation of Bosch drive systems, the Smart System is Bosch’s vision for an ultra-connected e-bike future. It was formally released last August, but it earned Bosch recognition as a 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree at CES.
The Smart System is currently built around the tried and trued Performance Line CX motor and a few other new parts unveiled in August, including a larger 750Wh battery and a new wireless remote and display combo. We got to give the Smart System a try at last year’s Sea Otter Classic on a couple of BULLS e-bikes, which at the time were the only e-bikes in the U.S. equipped with the system.
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Your coverage of E bikes at CES 2022 is one of the better articles that you have published in a while. I was a little disapointed in the coverage of this years Sea Otter Classic.. There are so many new lines of E bikes coming out from many current and new manufacturers. I keep hoping that Electric Bike Report will cover more of these newer freshly upgraded bikes that are indeed much lighter, offer different suspension setups and have internal cabling and batteries. While the old stalwerts like RAD, Aventon, Blix, Prodeco, Pedego are fine, I believe in at least the United States, that these styles of e bikes are growing old and clunky in their looks along with their weight. I am surprised that you question the trend in e bikes growing lighter as possibly a temporary trend. To those of us that have ridden e bikes for the last last eight years or more, this is indeed a most welcome trend, along with internal cabling and batteries. My wife and I had a significant experience this last fall when we rented Specialized Turbo Levo Mountain Bikes for the day. We went riding on the famous Lake Tahoe Flume Trail. Boy what a day that was. Not only the sights, but the way these bikes road was revolutionary. They were not heavy, Thank God, you need a lighter more nimble bike for these types of trails. They also did not require a extremely high wattage of power to propel these bikes forward or to climb significant grades. I can further attest to the differences of light weight road bikes as compared to heavier e bikes used on roads. I have an older Cannondale Synapse Carbon which rolls so easily in contrast to any other bike that I have owned that if given the choice of riding that bike on reasonably flat rides, I would readily choose that bike over an e bike any day because of it’s lightness and it’s ability to roll with so little effort. Therefore I believe that Specialized and others are really on to something in their quest to make their bikes lighter and provide just enough power along with some pedaling assistance from yours truly to give these bikes a really good “range” while still providing plenty of power for climbing hills. I hope that you will take my comments in a positive way. We do love e bikes, especially because we live full time at Lake Tahoe and do have plenty of hills that we must ride over.