Finnish Startup Revonte Creates Powerful Cargo Ebike Drive

Otto Chrons calls it a bit of an accident. When Revonte, his three-year old company, created an innovative new drive system for electric bikes called Revonte ONE engineers discovered it provided increased power and torque. That combination proved perfect for an emerging  new ebike segment—those that carry cargo.

“In a typical ebike that’s not a typical use case that you need the power immediately, but in cargo you definitely need it,” said Revonte CEO Chrons in an interview. “It accidentally ended up to be a very good solution for cargo boxes as well.” 

It was certainly a good solution for Adam Barmby, co-founder and CEO of EAV. His UK-based company just happens to build and sell electric cargo bikes. About a year ago he started looking for a new power unit for EAV’s cargo ebikes when his company was having issues with supply and quality of some of the parts they were receiving. 

After an extensive online search, Barmby says he found Revonte, based in a small town in Finland, and decided to check out its new drive system firsthand. 

“They did what we’re doing. They’re taking automotive thinking and tech and developed into an ebike package,” said Barmby in an interview. “I like the way they’re engineered. 

On paper what this system gives us is a far simpler drivetrain, not as many parts to go wrong and it’s a one-piece solution that gives us five times the amount torque, an automatic style transmission and a lot of tech- enabled connectivity to the vehicle to sort of understand acceleration and deceleration.”

Revonte’s Otto Chrons explains the Revonte ONE drive system uses a continuous variable transmission with what he terms a power split architecture. “there are actually two electric motors. One motor is driving the transmission. The gear ratio is based on the speed of this one motor. From a mechanical point of view it’s just a single planetary gear where all three components of the planetary gear are rotating and it’s then the function of the different rotation ratios is the actual gear ratio. The pedals are one input, the transmission control motor is the second input and the third is the ring gear that actually transmits the power to the back wheel. Surprisingly simple.” 

Revonte has also designed its own 36 volt battery system it calls Akku, both the Finnish and German word for battery. The Akku can be mounted vertically or horizontally depending on the ebike’s design. It comes in two sizes, 750 wH and 503 wH. 

For the heaving loads that cargo ebikes carry up to four batteries can be linked to provide more power. They’re connected in parallel but Chrons explains they communicate with each other taking turns providing whatever level of power is required at the time, always using the battery with the highest state of charge.

For EAV’s Adam Barmby, that’s an important consideration since his company’s cargo ebikes are currently engineered to carry up to 150 kilograms, or about 330 pounds. The company is working on developing wheels that can handle loads of up to 200 kilograms, or about 440 pounds. He points out EAV’s testing and failure rates are generally 50% higher than the weights for which its vehicles are actually going to carry “just for safety.” 

The Revonte ONE’s final differentiator is its connectivity, including its mobile app. Chrons explains the drive has GPS, 4G network connectivity, Bluetooth and wifi along with “all kinds of sensors.” It collects information about the ebike including performance, location, even how much C02 a rider has saved by riding an electric bike and sends it to Revonte’s cloud system. That information can all be displayed on the mobile app. 

EAV’s Barmby likes that too, explaining all that information helps to “sort of understand acceleration and deceleration and the data can be shared with government to show the benefits” of electric bikes.

The very first Revonte ONE-equipped EAV cargo ebikes won’t go on sale initially said Barmby, but will instead go through what he described as an extensive test and development program. He has plenty of customers lined up, however, who may finally get their hands on the four-wheeled electric cargo bikes this summer. “Four wheels on the ground for safety,” said Barmby. “Trikes of the world are so incredibly dangerous.”

Base price, said Barmby, is $11,560. It all depends on how the cargo ebike is outfitted and how much range the customer desires, anywhere from 30 to about 100 miles a day.

Word is getting around about the Revonte 1 system. While most of the company’s customers are currently in central Europe, Chrons says he’s receiving interest “around the globe” with about 100 ebike manufacturers who said they’d like to test the system. 

Indeed, EAV’s Adam Barmby said his company’s cargo ebikes are already in use by everything from grocery chains to a big test trial by Amazon

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in Germany. In Scandinavia, he said, some businesses are using them in place of electric vans.

It’s all part of a spike in ebike sales that was initially sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic which contributed to a run on both electric and conventional bikes as citizens looked for new methods of exercise and mobility.

A study released last December by three European cycling industry groups revealed sales of ebikes are predicted to grow from 3.7 million bikes in 2019 to 17 million in 2030. The study did not specify how many of those ebikes will be cargo haulers.

But Barmby is convinced those numbers reflect changing consumer priorities, explaining, “People are very much considering their health more, considering the environment more, a heightened awareness of the planet. It clearly isn’t a good thing to have vans deliver everything. That’s where ecargo bikes come into play. Do it in an environmentally conscious way.” 

Revonte’s Otto Chrons agrees and adds the move to ebikes and micromobility options is simply “systemic change.” It doesn’t hurt that his company’s happy “accident” with the Revonte ONE drive system may help speed along that change.