A behind-the-scenes Bafang factory tour

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Recently posted on Electrek... How Bafang’s electric motors are made

Our journey began at the Bafang factory in Suzhou, China. Bafang’s sprawling campus houses everything from R&D to production lines and final product testing.

We started the same way Bafang’s mid-drive electric motors do, at the beginning of the production line. The motors that we followed begin as bare shells. Workers assemble the core components of the motors by hand-placing magnets and winding copper wire around stators — the stationary portion of the motor. You can see these steps in our factory tour video below:

How electric bicycle motors are made: a behind-the-scenes Bafang factory tour

If you’ve ridden a few electric bicycles before, then you’ve probably found yourself using Bafang’s electric bicycle parts and not...

electrek.co

As Bafang continues to expand, its global footprint is growing. The company is preparing to move into a larger campus in China and has already built a second factory in Poland. The European factory should help it compete even more with major European manufacturers like Bosch and Brose, and may also help it skirt Europe’s anti-dumping import laws aimed at Chinese e-bike manufacturers. If this tour has you interested in Bafang motors, then check out some of the Bafang-powered e-bikes we’ve reviewed so far.

And you can also see a recent e-bike factory tour we took in China, where these types of motors are incorporated into full e-bikes.

 

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Here is another review of the recently introduced Bagang M200 mid-drive motor.

Bafang's new M200 mid-drive motor set to help lower e-bike prices

Bafang, one of the leading electric bicycle component manufacturers in China, has a long history of undercutting European competition to...

electrek.co

Bafang, one of the leading electric bicycle component manufacturers in China, has a long history of undercutting European competition to reduce e-bike pricing. Now the new Bafang M200 e-bike motor system could help the company push prices even lower. Compared to e-bikes featuring Bosch and Brose motors that commonly carry price tags in the $3k-$4k range (or higher), Bafang’s current mid-drive e-bikes can start for as little as $1,500. But with the newly announced Bafang M200 e-bike system, we could be looking at even lower prices by as early as Q2 of this year.

The new Bafang M200 is a mid-drive motor system designed to fit European regulations as well as the US’s Class 1 e-bike limitations. It runs on a 36V system and has a maximum continuous power rating of 250W. The system offers a top speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph). While 250W doesn’t sound like much, those ratings must often be taken with a grain of salt. While you might expect many companies to overrate their products’ specs, e-bike companies actually often underrate power to remain within regulatory limits while still offering riders a more enhanced experience. For example, compared to some of Bosch’s entry level 250 watt mid-drive systems, the Bafang M200 offers as much as 50% more torque, rated at 65 Nm (48 lb-ft). Because torque figures aren’t regulated in the same way as speed or power, torque measurements are often the most effective way to truly compare the output of various e-bike systems.