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Comment by sottol | Hacker News Reader

I don't know that I see anything revolutionary? The peak power seems maybe higher than Bosch CX at 850W vs 600 but continuous power is similar 250W. 800Wh max battery pack size is also not entirely out of the ordinary. The packaging seems nice, the battery seems quite slim and integrate well into ordinary-looking downtube on the Amflow bike - but don't see much otherwise. Weight seems on the high side.

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More than 250W continuous is pointless in many countries because that's the limit for the most common e-bike class (i.e. even if the system can do more, you'd want to de-rate it to 250W).

Bosch makes excellent motors, but they're ripping people off on accessories (a dumb charger costs 89 EUR in the "compact" variant that can do 2A or around 80W and weighs 600g, needing over 10 hours to charge a large battery), and enabling this with aggressive DRM (which also means updates can only be done by a repair shop). They're also trying to make your bike a subscription, of course.

So even if all DJI does is become competitive, that's already a win. Bonus points if they actually let you tune (some) motor parameters yourself. The hard part seems to be reliability (a bike that gets mud, water and washing together with constant vibration is a pretty harsh environment) and many Chinese motor brands have a less than stellar reputation there, and because this is not something easily testable, building a reputation (and gathering the experience needed to actually build good products) takes time.

I assume price would be the major factor. Also, as someone who knows nothing about e-bikes, but who knows "DJI makes good cheap drones and gimbals", they'd be pretty high on my list of "probably makes an ok product" without searching.

I'd trust their intent to create a good product (rather than aiming for something that will look good enough for just long enough to get you to buy it), their general manufacturing, and even engineering, but with the forces and water/dirt involved, I am not confident they'll succeed in the first few iterations.

> but with the forces and water/dirt involved, I am not confident they'll succeed in the first few iterations.

Air isn't perfectly clean or dry, either. I would bet that DJI has some clue as to how to protect the most sensitive components in a way that can survive _lots_ of vibration.

I agree with GP here, even on a city bike the determination water, grease and fine grit have to ingress into totally inaccessible spaces and ruin them from within is relentless. And then it's 10x worse in a mountain bike scenario.

Clearly not unsolvable but I'd wait for some 1 year use reviews before even thinking about it.

> but I'd wait for some 1 year use reviews before even thinking about it.

This is a solid strategy for just about any new company/product-line.

Even with years of experience in drones, DJI had an insane amount of (mostly positive) change between the first and second generation of mavic drone.

> The peak power seems maybe higher than Bosch CX at 850W vs 600 but continuous power is similar 250W. 800Wh max battery pack size is also not entirely out of the ordinary.

e-bike power is limited by regulations. If they created a higher power system, it wouldn't be allowed to be called an e-bike. 250W continuous is the limit, and therefore the target.

Battery pack size is a weight versus range tradeoff. Again, not going to see much difference from competitors.

The difference would come from the efficiency, the GaN fast charging (mentioned in the article), the control unit, the display, the app, and other features.

Hardcore DIYers will turn their nose up at the other features and try to turn this into a specifications races, but people who don't want to DIY and fiddle with things all the time will appreciate the cohesive package.

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