Bench Talk

New Tech Tuesdays

Join Mouser's Technical Content team for a weekly look at all things interesting, new, and noteworthy for design engineers.

Turning a traditional bicycle into an electric bike (e-bike) once meant just adding a motor to a bike frame for extra pedal assistance. Today, smarter motor systems, improved batteries, and real-time rider feedback have changed that concept. Better technology has upgraded e-bike performance by pushing range, quality, and connectivity to new levels. This week’s New Tech Tuesdays looks at how these new designs focus on system intelligence in addition to raw motor power, offering users a connected riding experience that is part of the next wave of mobility technology.

Smarter Motors, Smoother Rides

Modern e-bikes no longer rely on simple throttle-based control; instead, they incorporate sensor and wireless communication technologies. 

Cadence sensors were among the first sensor types used in e-bikes. These simple and cost-effective devices detect the rider’s pedaling cadence and activate motor assistance. However, they do not measure how hard a rider is pedaling, so they offer limited responsiveness.^[1]

Torque sensors, which are now common in higher-end models, measure how hard a rider is pedaling and adjust motor assistance to create a smoother, more natural riding experience. This means more help when going uphill and less power wasted on flat surfaces, making the experience more like riding a traditional bicycle, but easier. Also, because the pedal assistance is activated only when needed, battery power can be conserved.

Battery Management Systems That Think Ahead

Careful battery management is essential to getting the most out of modern e-bike motors. Advanced battery management systems (BMSs) protect expensive lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery packs, extending their lifespan and keeping riders safe.^[2]

Modern BMS designs track individual cell voltages and temperature, balance charge across cells, and prevent conditions like overcharging or deep discharging. Some systems even communicate with motor controllers and adjust performance based on battery health or ambient temperature.

Incorporating battery-monitoring integrated circuits (ICs) and modular BMS platforms simplifies the design process, making it easier to build compact and reliable power systems into the slimmer e-bike frames seen today.

But it's not just hardware improvements trending in today’s e-bikes. This mode of transportation is becoming smarter by resembling the connected systems of modern vehicles.

Connected Ride Systems

Connectivity is a growing piece of e-bike tech. Wireless modules, mobile apps, and GPS tracking are becoming standard features.

Connected systems let riders track speed, range, and progress. Some apps go even further by letting riders update firmware wirelessly, receive maintenance alerts, or track their bike if it goes missing. Low-power Bluetooth^® modules, Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, and cloud tools are helping e-bikes stay useful even when they’re not active (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Real-time monitoring through torque sensors and other connectivity technology ensures the motor responds instantly to rider input, optimizing both performance and battery efficiency. (Source: AhmadTriwahyuutomo/stock.adobe.com; generated with AI)

These connected features create new opportunities for manufacturers, such as customized ride profiles, remote diagnostics, or even subscription services tied to ride data.

The Newest Products for Your Newest Designs^®

Meeting the needs of e-bike motor control applications, the NXP Semiconductors S32K37 and S32K39 microcontrollers provide two split-lock Arm^® Cortex^®-M7 cores and one Cortex-M7 lockstep core pair, running at 320MHz. The S32K39 variant includes two motor control coprocessors and NanoEdge™ high-resolution pulse-width modulation (PWM), supporting traction inverter control. Both variants include a CoolFlux digital signal processor (DSP) and up to 69 external analog inputs via seven successive-approximation register analog-to-digital converters (SAR ADCs), making them ideal for monitoring battery cell voltages and temperatures in e-bike BMS applications.

Tuesday’s Takeaway

Mechanical performance isn’t the only consideration in the next generation of e-bikes. Smart systems that include torque sensors, intelligent BMS, and connected ride ecosystems are setting new expectations for ride performance and long-term dependability. The opportunities aren’t just about building faster bikes, but smarter and more adaptive ones.

Sources

[1] https://www.aventon.com/blogs/aventon_bikes/torque-sensor-vs-cadence-sensor
[2] https://www.mxmoto.co/blogs/bms-in-electric-bikes/