DJI may dominate the drone market, but the company wants to apply its winning formula to electric bikes.
The drone maker released a vague teaser of its next flagship product with the X. While not an official announcement, the video shows a mid-drive motor for an electric bike, with the text “Power Your Ride.” It’s unclear whether DJI plans to unveil the entire e-bike or just the motor system under the Avinox name, but it’s still a big shift from the company’s typical product category: drones.
It might seem surprising that DJI would be developing an electric motorcycle, but the company is already expanding beyond drones. Its current product lineup includes GoPro-rivaling action cameras, gimbals, microphones for video bloggers, and even portable power sources. But of all those devices, an electric motorcycle may be the one that makes the most use of DJI’s technology.
A full-fledged sensor suite
Looking at the company’s latest releases, it’s clear that DJI has been working on expanding and interconnecting its ecosystem lately. Evidence of this can be seen in the introduction of a Power Station designed to quickly charge its batteries. There’s also the possibility that DJI could seamlessly connect its drones to Avinox for easy tracking footage.
Alternatively, because DJI’s drones are equipped with a host of sensors that help them avoid obstacles, the company could leverage a suite of sensors designed for its e-bikes — think of one that can avoid crashing into objects, or that knows areas where e-bikes are prohibited, like No Drone Zones.
According to previous leaks, DJI will be incorporating several sensors into the Avinox, including an IMU, barometer, compass, and sensors that can measure wheel speed, torque, cadence, and ambient light. Early leaks also suggest that the Avinox will have two battery options: a 600Wh and a more powerful 800Wh. DJI will reportedly have an 850W motor capable of outputting 105Nm of torque, which can instead be boosted to 1,000W of power and 120Nm. According to the leak, the Avinox will ride at 20mph in the US, in line with federal law limits, but all the leaked specs give the impression of a premium e-bike. That’s not a bad thing, though, because DJI should be planning to make a big splash with its first e-bike, given how crowded the market is.
More details coming soon
Given these specs and the number of sensors, it’s likely that the Avinox won’t be an entry-level e-bike. Don’t expect Lectric-style pricing for DJI’s first e-bike, but it should be closer to the more premium offerings from brands like Aventon. We should know more about the Avinox when DJI officially announces it, with a release scheduled for later this week.
A shift to e-bikes makes a lot of sense, given the pressure DJI is facing with a possible ban in the U.S. The market is booming right now, and DJI can bring its strong reputation and sensor technology to e-bikes, but the real question is whether it can bring the same advantages it holds with drones.
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