Bosch eBike Systems plans to announce something new at CES 2025, perhaps related to advances in its electric bicycle battery technology. A cryptic teaser video gives a taste of what’s to come.
In the video seen below, a Bosch PowerPack 800 e-bike battery can be seen along with the words “Protect what is valuable” on either side of the battery.
The clues could lead in several directions, potentially relating to the battery’s safety or to advances in theft prevention.
Is Bosch unveiling potted e-bike batteries?
One potential theory centers around the possibility of Bosch unveiling potted batteries, a design that encases the internal components and battery cells in resin or other solid protective materials. This construction method is highly valued for its resistance to water, shocks, and vibrations, making it ideal for mountain bikers and commuters who ride in challenging environments.
While the concept is not new, it is still uncommon in the electric bicycle battery industry. Last year, the electric bicycle brand Rad Power Bikes unveiled new potted batteries as part of their SafeShield line of batteries.
The practice does raise some concerns regarding the ability to recycle such batteries, but Rad Power Bikes has said that its SafeShield batteries are still recyclable. Accessing the cells is difficult when potted batteries are discontinued, but many battery recycling programs grind up the entire battery and use a series of separators such as magnets, screens, and centrifuges to isolate the important materials for further recycling.
The shift towards potted batteries marks a significant increase in battery safety, especially for riders on rough terrain or who ride in wet environments. Physical damage and water ingress (especially salt water from coastal regions or areas with significant road salt usage) are two leading causes of e-bike battery fires. While such fires are still quite rare considering the large number of e-bike batteries in circulation, addressing those two areas, which are commonly seen in Bosch’s two main markets of electric mountain bikes and commuter e-bikes, could go a long way towards improving safety.
Does Bosch have a new theft protection system?
Another possible interpretation of the teaser could relate to anti-theft technology. Battery theft has become a growing concern for e-bike riders, especially in urban areas where bikes are often left locked up outside. Bosch might be addressing this issue by introducing integrated theft-prevention features.
Potential innovations could include built-in GPS trackers for locating stolen batteries, more tamper-proof locking mechanisms, or even remote disabling capabilities that render a stolen battery unusable.
Other companies, such as the now-defunct Juiced Bikes, have built e-bike batteries with specially designed cavities for concealing Airtags or other location-tracking devices.
While details remain under wraps, Bosch’s teaser has created a buzz in the e-bike community due to the e-bike component maker’s large market share. The official announcement from Bosch is expected soon, and we’ll report back as soon as we know more.
Until then, let’s hear your thoughts in the comment section below. What could Bosch’s engineers be cooking up this time?
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Tesla’s India plans won’t include electric vehicle manufacturing, according to the local minister of industries, and the reason is quite simple.
Tesla has been trying to enter the Indian automotive market for years, but it has been unable to circumvent the country’s protectionist efforts, which include high import duties on foreign vehicles.
There have been several false starts in the country. CEO Elon Musk has stated on several occasions that Tesla is actively trying to enter the market.
For the last five years, it seemed that the American automaker was on the verge of entering the Indian market with local hires and even vehicle validation, but it never materialized.
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Over the past few months, a new initiative has been underway, and it has shown promise.
The deal involves significantly reducing import duties for a limited number of electric vehicles, provided the automaker makes a substantial investment and commitment to establish an electric vehicle factory in India within the coming years.
Since then, Tesla has started hiring service and sales staff, and there have been several reports that the automaker is closing in on some retail and service locations.
However, we now learn that Tesla doesn’t plan to take advantage of the deal, which includes establishing local vehicle manufacturing.
HD Kumaraswamy, India’s Ministry of Heavy Industries, announced that Tesla won’t be one of the automakers planning to build EV factories in the country (via BBC):
“Mercedes Benz, Skoda-Volkswagen, Hyundai and Kia have shown interest [in manufacturing electric cars in India]. Tesla – we are not expecting from them.”
Another Indian government official added that while Tesla participated in the first round of discussions with stakeholders, it stopped participating in the process after, while the previously mentioned automakers continued.
Kumaraswamy still said that he believes Tesla plans to open “two showrooms” in the country, but it’s not clear how it plans to handle the situation with the import duties.
I said it several times in the last few months amid Tesla’s latest effort to enter India, but I’ll repeat it: I’ll believe it when I see it.
We have been burned too many times on this.
Showrooms are one thing, but Tesla also needs to deploy service and charging stations. If its vehicles are still subject to steep import duties without the benefits of the promise of a manufacturing investment, it’s going to be a tough market for Tesla.
It makes no sense to invest in more manufacturing capacity if you are not already utilizing your current fully deployed capacity. That’s also why Tesla halted its Gigafactory Mexico project, along with the US tariffs.
Tesla currently has a demand problem. Not a production capacity demand.
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A year later, it looks like these are ongoing and Tesla is trying to address them.
Last week, Tesla had a week-long production shutdown at Gigafactory Texas and employees were offered to come in for some training during that time.
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One of the training sessions was related to “company culture,” and Business Insider obtained a recording, releasing some quotes from it.
The instructor asked Tesla employees attending the training if they’d ever felt “I can’t work under these conditions”or had felt set back by constant change at the company.” “I know I have,” the instructor told the employees.
The recording made it clear that Tesla is having some turnover issues due to morale. The instructor said:
“A lot of people leave this company, and they have kind of a negative taste in their mouth. They think: ‘Man, it was terrible. It was bad. I got burnt out. I feel like I didn’t get anything done, nobody listened to me.’”
The company culture training reportedly used to be for Tesla management, but the instructor said that the company decided to expand it to all employees.
They added:
“Leadership has kind of another level of responsibility for trying to guide and direct that culture. But at the end of the day, it’s us as the people on the ground that are the reflection of the culture.”
The instructor highlighted the need for employees to focus on Tesla’s “higher purpose.”
Tesla greatly benefited from being a mission-driven company with the aim. of accelerating the transition to electric transport and sustainable energy.
It helped with hiring and in pushing Tesla’s well-known aggressive work rate.
However, Tesla’s mission shifted in the last few years as CEO Elon Musk had Tesla focus on autonomous driving, and many people feel that the original mission has taken a step back with the CEO backing Donald Trump and the Republican party, who have historically campaigned against electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Electrek’s Take
Company culture begins at the top and flows down. Musk has historically asked a lot out of Tesla employees, but he has barely been working at Tesla for the past year.
That’s not outstanding leadership.
Furthermore, he alienated most of Tesla’s customer base, and while he still has loyalists at Tesla, I think that his massive drop in favorability is also reflected among Tesla employees.
I think talent retention should be one of the biggest concerns at Tesla right now.
I track employee comings and goings closely and I see a continued exodus of talent right now that doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Employee morale is part of it.
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President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform moved a step closer to having a bitcoin exchange-traded fund available to everyday investors.
NYSE Arca, the all-electronic arm of the New York Stock Exchange that handles most ETF trading, filed on Tuesday to list a bitcoin fund linked to the president’s media company, the latest sign of Trump’s expanding push into the crypto world. Known as a 19b-4 form, the filing is required before regulators can decide whether to allow the fund to launch and trade on a U.S. exchange.
Called the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF, the fund is designed to track the price of bitcoin and offer a simpler way for investors to gain exposure without holding the asset directly. The filing follows an announced partnership between Trump Media and Crypto.com in March to bring a suite of digital asset products to market later this year, pending regulatory approval.
Those planned offerings include baskets of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and Crypto.com’s native Cronos token, combined with traditional securities. The products will be branded under Trump Media and made available to global investors through major brokerage platforms and the Crypto.com app, which serves more than 140 million users worldwide.
Since the January 2024 launch of spot bitcoin ETFs, the market has swelled to more than $130 billion in total assets. BlackRock‘s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounts for the lion’s share, with nearly $69 billion in assets, making it the largest digital asset manager in the world.
Trump is the majority owner of Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, which has made a series of crypto-aligned moves in recent months — from trademarking digital asset products to unveiling a $2.5 billion bitcoin treasury plan last week in Las Vegas. If approved, the ETF would represent one of the most politically connected entries into the booming market for bitcoin funds.