Revonte One almost ready for market?

[Alaskan]

The Finnish Revonte One is a lightweight powerful middrive ebike unit with built in CVT transmission that can operate in either automatic or manual shifting mode, It looks like pretty cool technology that won't be in North America for a while.

The Revonte One is a drive unit and gearbox combined, removing the need for a traditional gearing system in the rear wheel.

More radical designs of the mid-drive are certainly on the horizon though, in particular in the form of Finland’s Revonte ONE system. It is essentially a drive unit and gearbox combined, removing the need for a traditional gearing system in the rear wheel. The gears can be automatically changed with the continuously variable transmission, or CVT. design.

What are the potential advantages? It’s no exaggeration to say it could revolutionize many aspects of the e-bike. The most obvious one is that it removes gearing from the rear wheel which would bring the advantages of a totally maintenance-free e-bike. It also puts more weight low down and centrally so that handling characteristics would improve.

The drive unit quoted stats are a weight of 4.7kg, 250W continuous power rating with a maximum 1,500W and 90Nm torque. There’s a 416% gear range at 60rpm. The battery comes in at 3.98kg and has been developed to work with the system by partner company BMZ. Concept bikes have already been produced by Tunturin and Lavelle.

 

[Akrotiri]

Looks very promising. However, it is a CVT with a projected 416%gear range but what’s the effective gear range ?

Just a j/k....

Any news on a major ebike companies looking to use this drivetrain?

 

[Deacon Blues]

I like the idea of combining the transmission and motor, but I wonder how it feels to ride with a CVT transmission.

 

[Akrotiri]

I like the idea of combining the transmission and motor, but I wonder how it feels to ride with a CVT transmission.

I think Fazua already combines the transmission and motor and its removable so the rider can go analogue. I’m not 100% sure though.

 

[Alaskan]

I think Fazua already combines the transmission and motor and its removable so the rider can go analogue. I’m not 100% sure though.

the Fauza motor is removeable but is considerably lower power. Fauza has far less max torque at 60 and peak watts at 400 while this one has 90 max torque and 1500 peak watts. Fauza also lacks the gear box and requires a derailleur/cassette. Fauza is 3.2 kg while this on is 4.7 but that includes the CVT drive train. An 11 speed cassette and derailleur is about 1kg while internally geared rear hubs range from 2 kg- 3.5 kg.

 

[Deacon Blues]

I'd love to take an ebike with this motor and tranny for a test ride.

 

[FlatSix911]

The Finnish Revonte One is a lightweight powerful middrive ebike unit with built in CVT transmission that can operate in either automatic or manual shifting mode, It looks like pretty cool technology that won't be in North America for a while.
The Revonte One is a drive unit and gearbox combined, removing the need for a traditional gearing system in the rear wheel.

More radical designs of the mid-drive are certainly on the horizon though, in particular in the form of Finland’s Revonte ONE system. It is essentially a drive unit and gearbox combined, removing the need for a traditional gearing system in the rear wheel. The gears can be automatically changed with the continuously variable transmission, or CVT. design.

What are the potential advantages? It’s no exaggeration to say it could revolutionize many aspects of the e-bike. The most obvious one is that it removes gearing from the rear wheel which would bring the advantages of a totally maintenance-free e-bike. It also puts more weight low down and centrally so that handling characteristics would improve.

The drive unit quoted stats are a weight of 4.7kg, 250W continuous power rating with a maximum 1,500W and 90Nm torque. There’s a 416% gear range at 60rpm. The battery comes in at 3.98kg and has been developed to work with the system by partner company BMZ. Concept bikes have already been produced by Tunturin and Lavelle.

Very interesting design... I have been waiting for this type of integration!

Any idea on the price point and OEM bike partners?

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I was hoping to test ride this at this year's EUROBIKE but the show was canceled.
The idea is great in theory because it simplifies all the moving parts into one box at the center of the frame. But proper implementation would necessitate much more work.
Revonte is actually the 4th or 5th major attempt in this direction. Continental produced a 48V E-bike system back in 2017 and invested millions of $$ into this venture.

But, in 2019, they shut down the whole operation and had to let of 100 and odd people working on this project.
To really make a big impact on the industry, it takes enormous capital and planning (not just product roadmap but also engineering planning). It's a bit harder to reduce pedaling drag when you combine the motor and the CVT and connect it to the crank arm. Any pedaling has to go through this CVT and it creates a very mechanical pedaling feeling. Sort of like a much more amplified version of Bosch Gen 2 motors.

Continental Announces its Departure from the E-MTB Motor Market - Pinkbike

Continental will discontinue its e-bike operations and instead focus on 'growth fields'.

www.pinkbike.com

For a large OEM like the Trek, Cube, their cost of motors is quite low and it would be difficult to compete with those guys. At the end of the day, cost matters a lot and even the Chinese firms like Bafang with subsidies from the local governments find it hard to make a big dent in the EU market. Once they sell in volume, servicing those motors become a major problem.
They could use the Tesla strategy wherein they go for the high-end market, nail down that market with a few key OEMs and then slowly bring it to the mass market.

On top of that, they have to rely on BMZ batteries (which erodes their pricing advantage).

If it was easier engineering-wise, folks at Pinion would have done this to capture the E-bike marketshare.
Anyone who can do this will pave the way for an E-bike that has excellent handling characteristics and super low maintenance.

 

[FlatSix911]

Thanks for sharing a bit of Engineering history.

I was sorry to hear that the Continental development project did not work out... an integrated motor and transmission is truly the Holy-Grail for EBikes.

 

[Oldbean]

Desperately need one of these as spend more time cleaning my mec than riding these days.

 

[FlatSix911]

Here is a quick video update on the new Electric Mountain Bike Tech for 2021.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I think this would have to be belt drive because of all that torque on the back wheel since the cog will not change.

 

[Oldbean]

The Finnish Revonte One is a lightweight powerful middrive ebike unit with built in CVT transmission that can operate in either automatic or manual shifting mode, It looks like pretty cool technology that won't be in North America for a while.

The Revonte One is a drive unit and gearbox combined, removing the need for a traditional gearing system in the rear wheel.

More radical designs of the mid-drive are certainly on the horizon though, in particular in the form of Finland’s Revonte ONE system. It is essentially a drive unit and gearbox combined, removing the need for a traditional gearing system in the rear wheel. The gears can be automatically changed with the continuously variable transmission, or CVT. design.

What are the potential advantages? It’s no exaggeration to say it could revolutionize many aspects of the e-bike. The most obvious one is that it removes gearing from the rear wheel which would bring the advantages of a totally maintenance-free e-bike. It also puts more weight low down and centrally so that handling characteristics would improve.

The drive unit quoted stats are a weight of 4.7kg, 250W continuous power rating with a maximum 1,500W and 90Nm torque. There’s a 416% gear range at 60rpm. The battery comes in at 3.98kg and has been developed to work with the system by partner company BMZ. Concept bikes have already been produced by Tunturin and Lavelle.

Lavelle does not answer my enquiry re Revonte......and all,I can find at Tunturin is their fitness equipment
They both seem to be ignoring Revonte .
Revonte themselves told me mid 2021 for a full suss MTB. But they said end 20 for the hard tail but nothing so far.......I am prepared to wait but at my age I dont have THAT long!

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

The predicament with starting a new motor or battery company is that you have to convince OEMs to use this motor and be able to support it for a very long time in this rapidly growing market.

The customers are always risk-averse and they would think, mmm this new bike company is using some new motor. Should I trust them or not? On top of that, customers are looking for low price options. This would make it doubly hard. But, if they can sustain the initial 2-3 years, then it gets easier.