The 30th anniversary of the Yamaha e-Bike

No Helmet or License Needed?

We wanted to build a new type of vehicle that would link the company to a new group of customers it had no touchpoints with before. Yamaha had been exploring several ideas for a personal commuter vehicle that could offer new value and Kando while also being both people-friendly and eco-friendly. One that stuck was to find a solution to a bicycle’s weakness in going uphill or into the wind; “What if there was some kind of power source to help the person pedaling?” You can see this in projects that produced a prototype mounting a small 25cc gasoline engine on a bicycle in 1973 and another prototype mounting a 35cc engine on a mountain bike in 1982.
What we were thinking about was a personal commuter vehicle that placed top priority on performance in tune with human sensibilities, one that people who didn’t ride motorcycles could still handle with ease. In other words, we wanted to create something that didn’t require a helmet or a license and could be ridden easily by anyone.

The 1980s saw the introduction of more compact, high-performance batteries and computers as well as a rapid succession of revolutionary advances in the field of electronics. That led us to start research and development on the completely new concept of using an electric motor to “assist” the pedaling power of the rider. In 1989, we succeeded in the development of a prototype mounting a new mechanism we called the “Power Assist System.” This prototype went on to become the origin of our PAS electrically power-assisted bicycles.

Technology Born of Repeated Trial and Error

Around that time, there were an estimated 63 million bicycles owned in Japan,* making it clearly the most commonly used and familiar form of personal mobility in the country. So, our aims in developing this new vehicle were to contribute to society by making people’s lives more convenient, help solve local environmental and energy problems, and alleviate chronic traffic congestion. To realize these goals, it would have be ridable like an everyday bicycle, but at the same time alleviate its inherent weaknesses.
That’s why Yamaha devoted most of its R&D efforts towards what would become a pivotal technology—the Power Assist System. It had to provide a natural-feeling assist that people felt comfortable with when riding in various conditions, such as up or down hills or on gravel, regardless of the rider’s weight or leg strength. Thus, the development aim was to tune the system’s performance so that it cleared these varying requirements and within a perception range that assured users that it was still indeed a bicycle. It was a long development process with an almost uncountable number of failures. And, of course, since this was a Yamaha product, we spared no efforts in making sure that the technology, safety factors, and construction all met stringent requirements.
*Based on 1993 figures from the Japan Bicycle Promotion Institute.

A Passionate and Creative Challenge that Moved Society

In order to bring the product to market, one of the biggest issues was how to position it with regard to the nation’s road vehicle and traffic laws. That prompted us to repeatedly take opportunities to talk with and explain to officials at relevant government agencies that the electrically power-assisted bicycle was a direct extension of a regular bicycle and contributed greatly to society in terms of saving energy and reducing exhaust emissions. After careful and prudent consideration, the involved agencies eventually recognized the societal value of the vehicle and officially approved its classification as a bicycle in 1993. Then in July of that year, we unveiled the Yamaha PAS as the first product of its kind in the world and region-limited sales began in Japan in November, with nationwide sales commencing in April 1994.

Looking back, I remember the real passion that everyone involved in the PAS project had, from the R&D team and those working out issues with the government agencies to the bicycle industry and the marketing people who pioneered the development of its sales network. To begin with, we’re a company with a culture that values the aspect of fun when taking on the challenge of developing new products or technologies, and that’s built into our organization. Along with the three factors of leadership from top management, internal and external cooperation, and the passion of the project leaders, I believe that Yamaha’s corporate culture of valuing our Spirit of Challenge had an important role in helping us successfully to bring the PAS to market.

At EUROBIKE 2013, the world's largest bicycle trade fair held in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany, e-bikes equipped with our "PWseries" electrical power assist drive units for bicycles were displayed. With a market scale exceeding 850,000 units in FY 2012, at that time, Europe was already one of the world's leading markets for electrically power assisted bicycles. And Germany and the Netherlands alone accounted for more than half of that total European market.

When entering European markets, do as the European markets do

The PWseries are drive units with what we call a "crank resultant force" structure that matches the force of the rider’s pedaling with an assist force from an electric motor applied to the pedal crankshaft. This structure was completely different from the "chain resultant force" structure that was mainstream in Japan at the time, which applied combined human power and assist force from a special gear through a bicycle’s chain.

"In fact, we were asked by one of the world's largest bicycle manufacturers to supply chain resultant force type drive units on an OEM basis in 2012, but we only ended up supplying a minimum number of units before the order ended," says the marketing manager at the time. Therefore, after conducting thorough market research and interviews with bicycle manufacturers, we learned about the difference in preferences regarding electrically power assisted bicycles.

The "chain resultant force" method that was mainstream in Japan provided good torque, had a long “rear-center” (the distance between the pedal crankshaft and the rear axle) and a good feeling of stability, with a relatively gentle assist feeling. This made it suitable for daily use such as picking up and dropping off children at nursery school, and shopping. On the other hand, in the European market there was a greater need for "crank resultant force" type drive units that had a short rear-center, provided a good degree of freedom in frame design and battery mounting position, and had a capacity to accommodate the front and rear external derailler gears that are indispensable for sport bicycles.
Furthermore, due to the difference in regulations for electrically power assist bicycles, the preferences concerning assist feeling were also very different. In Japan, due to the regulation that assists must be provided in proportion to the force of the rider’s pedaling, there is a large difference in the assist power between the phase when pedaling force is being applied to the pedal and the phase when the pedaling force is released, especially on uphill road sections where riders pedal strongly. And it is said that this was ridiculed as “a yo-yo feeling." On the other hand, in Europe, although there are regulations limiting the maximum speed at which the assist can be applied, there are no regulations governing the proportion of the assist force in relation to the rider’s pedaling force. And as a result, the mainstream preference in Europe was for assist control with a stronger feeling of “self-propulsion,” that moderately suppressed the drop in assist power in the phase when the rider’s pedaling force is released.
Therefore, rather than developing a drive unit that was an extension of the domestic specifications we cultivated over many years in Japan, the PWseries was developed from scratch as a drive unit with "crank resultant force" assist control specially tailored to meet European market preferences.

Building on the comprehensive strength of the Yamaha brand produced a response that exceeded expectations
A drive unit praised for "zero cadence"

As soon as the prototype of the PWseries was completed, we took it from Japan to the bicycle manufacturer previously mentioned as one of the world's largest to have it mounted onto their bicycles, in a process involving repeated test runs and detailed setting changes.
In the words of our chief marketing representative at the time, “Everyone worked from morning into the night, even shortening our meals, to continue the road tests. Our assist control, which was tuned to prioritize human sensibilities, had long been well received, but it was now further praised as having "zero cadence" (no time lag when pedaling). That really convinced me that this would sell!"

Just because something is good doesn't mean it will sell abundantly. To convey the appeal of the PWseries, we spent days loading prototypes and comparison vehicles into cars and going around visiting bicycle manufacturers. Starting our base in the Netherlands, we traveled overland to Germany, France, and sometimes across the Alps to Switzerland and Italy. Running nearly 1,000 km a day became a daily occurrence.

What these caravans made me realize anew was the strength of the Yamaha brand in Europe. "It is thanks to our YAMAHA sign that doors opened when we sought to make appointments, and the Europeans who talked to me said things like, “I'm riding the YZF-R1,” and I found that they knew more about MotoGP results than we did." They trusted me just because of the name Yamaha." recalls the head of marketing. We must stand on the trust that our predecessors have built and pass it on to the next generation. That is why we worked to build a relationship of trust through sincere response.

In addition to such sincere and steady marketing activities and the high degree of perfection of the PWseries, combined with the momentum in the European market, which had been eagerly awaiting the introduction of the new drive unit, the response exceeded our expectations when it was introduced in 2013. In fact, the marketing team at that time was a small group of only three people, including the person in charge.
There was even an anecdote that when the company launched a global website for drive units, it was so inundated with inquiries that it became unmanageable, and we had to remove the "Contact Us" link from the website.

At the time in 2012, a goal was set to sell 100,000 drive units in Europe three years later in 2015, and our marketing manager recalls that, "Starting as we had from scratch in the development and launch, a target of 100,000 units in just three years was a tremendous number that normally could not even be imagined at all. But it was achieved brilliantly.
The PWseries' high reputation in Europe, the main market for e-bikes, is due to the full cooperation of local bicycle manufacturers as OEM partners, as well as the comprehensive capabilities of the Yamaha brand's excellent "manufacturing, sales, and technology" foundation that has responded to the market's voices with consistent diligence and success.

About the “YPJ” name, it is an acronym for Yamaha (Y) Project (PJ), and we trace the start of this project back to 2012. Being the year of the 20th anniversary of Yamaha’s launch of the world’s first electrically power assisted bicycle（e-Bike）, the PAS, and there was discussion going on in the company about what kind of new challenge we could take on as we looked ahead to the next 20 years.

We are grateful to say that in these roughly 20 years our e-Bikes had won a solid following among customers, and that uses for the e-Bikes had steadily diversified and grown to include a wide range of users, from the elderly citizens, young parents in their child-raising years and those who used them for commuting. And we also thought that we wanted to continue to listen to the voices of the customers and develop new products with even greater refinement and focus.
Meanwhile, as we continued to analyze the current e-Bike market, a number of new issues came to our attention. Among the main ones were the fact that demand for e-Bikes tended to be concentrated in areas with hilly roads, a lack of variety in the types of use, and the presence of many people for whom electrically power assisted bicycles were not a product that they felt familiarity with. To address these issues, it was decided to hold a solution idea contest within the company.

Regarding this, a new planning theme of finding ways to create new value and new fields of use was set in motion, aimed at getting away from the positioning of e-Bikes as “convenient utility vehicles,” and resulting in a new concept of product plans aimed at achieving “mobility that is fun to use.”
Around that time, there was a boom in bicycle use in the cities, accompanied by growth in a new style of cycling as something fashionable and cool. At the same time, when e-Bike customers were asked about what they wanted in the bikes, their answers included stylish design and new functions that led to new issues for us to consider, which in turn led us to think about the possibility of creating a new boom in electrically power assisted bicycles. That started another round of information gathering and analysis.

After that, we began repeated sentinel surveillance, user surveys, dealer surveys, and the like, and then from the concept we came up with, we created a prototype and displayed it at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show as the concept model “YPJ-01.” During the show, we conducted face-to-face interviews with show visitors, which confirmed a certain level of approval of the YPJ-01 that gave us confidence in its potential. We particularly understood from this the importance of the weight and the design, revealed in comments about its lightness and its cool design (= a design different from most electric bicycles).

Until then, our approach to electrically power assisted bicycle development was a process of adding more electric motor power to make riding uphill easier or adding larger-sized batteries to provide longer running distance per charge in answer to such needs, but this naturally made the weight of the bike heavier and the look of it less like a bicycle. So, with the YPJ we focused on how to provide greater “joy of riding,” and to replace what had been lost in the process of making it easier to ride up hills. So we then changed our way of thinking in that direction. In terms of functions, our basic stance became (1) improving the inherent performance of the bicycle and (2) optimizing the assist performance while making optimum use of the performance of the bicycle body.
In order to achieve these objectives, we switched our thinking from a process of adding to the opposite process of subtraction, by means such as making the body lighter, making the battery more compact and lightweight, making the motor compact and lightweight, and reducing the resistance in the bicycle’s ride itself (without the assist) as much as possible. Also, from the standpoint of design, we focused on achieving a simpleness that would make people say that it didn’t look like an electric bicycle. That meant making something that was no longer an extension of the e-Bike models until then but something that would make people feel they were seeing an “entirely new breed of electrically power assisted bicycle.”

In this sense, the YPJ became an all-new type of vehicle, which would provide all the advantages of the power assist when starting out, accelerating, and riding uphill, but also give riders the feeling of the inherent lightness and riding pleasure they knew and loved in non-electric bicycles.

It has been a transition from a “vehicle for making riding easier” to a “leisure vehicle that is fun to ride.” The riding scenes it is designed for is now limitless, including everything from daily commuting to weekend cycling, so we think it is truly a bike that the owner can decide how to use as they like. Of course, we want it to be a bicycle that women will want to use, so we offer it in two different frame sizes that we hope will make it a bicycle that is not just for one’s own use but also one that couples or groups of friends can use to build communities through touring and the like.

The YPJ concept is “Redefining electrically power assisted bicycles.” From the functionality to the design, we believe it is a product that will make people feel they are experiencing something “completely new.” We strongly hope that you will find an opportunity to see it, touch it and experience riding it. And our hope is that the experience will change everyone’s idea of the potential value of an electrically power assisted bicycle.

Planting the Seeds for e-Bike Kando in the USA

The United States is the fourth largest country in the world by area, and Yamaha Motor enjoys wide brand recognition and a sterling reputation for quality and reliability there thanks to its motorcycles, side-by-sides, generators, marine products, and more. But while Yamaha pioneered e-Bikes three decades ago in Japan, they only just recently made it to American shores, being officially launched five years ago in 2018.

But the story that brought Yamaha-brand e-Bikes to the U.S. actually goes back much further. Some years after the first PAS model was released in 1993, some employees from Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. (YMUS) were given an opportunity to give their general feedback on the models available at the time, but this was more to get additional perspectives and a future launch on the American market was nowhere on the radar. But a blip would appear as the 2010s arrived when YMUS leadership decided to run a series of intense workshops among various departments to come up with new Yamaha products concepts and ideas—and one was to explore the market feasibility of Yamaha’s e-Bikes. After all, e-Bikes were beginning to grow more visible in the U.S., and as the inventor of the first e-Bike, Yamaha had not only built the market for them in Japan but also had decades of experience, whether it was selling complete models domestically or exporting e-Bike systems (e-Kits) to Europe. The decision to go forward with this idea planted the seeds for bringing Yamaha-brand e-Bikes to America.

After the project was greenlit and a team assembled, fortune smiled on them as they heard that some engineers at Yamaha Motor headquarters had been tinkering away at some interesting off-road e-Bike prototypes in their spare time. Feeling these might be a great fit for the U.S., where many a motorcyclist first learns to ride off-road, the prototypes were shipped over to YMUS and trialed across the country. The test customers came from all walks of life—some avid cyclists and some who hadn’t ridden in years—but they all experienced the Kando that comes when using an e-Bike for the first time. From the reactions of these test users and the in-depth evaluations they provided, the project team gained renewed confidence that there was a future for Yamaha e-Bikes on American soil.

Armed with a Trusted Name and Pioneer Status

Fast-forward to 2015 and the team was in Japan to meet with engineers and planners to strategize the lineup for debuting Yamaha bicycles. However, while Yamaha was a known name in many powersports realms, it was completely unknown to the American cycling world. This fact was made even clearer when Yamaha Motor put up a booth at Interbike in 2016 displaying its e-Kits and the Japan-spec YPJ-R model. While show visitors were very familiar with the Yamaha name, nobody knew its history with bicycles or that it birthed the first e-Bike. For the small project team, which had long been operating much like an in-house startup, this fact had long loomed over their heads, but it also got them fired up; they were setting out to accomplish something never done before in an all-new business. Getting the name out that year was an important first step, because the following year, things were very different—the official announcement that four models would arrive in 2018 made headlines in bicycle media and initial impressions were very positive.

With the legions of supercross and motocross fans across the country, perhaps it is not surprising that what captured the most interest among potential customers was the YDX-TORC eMTB model. With its top-shelf features and YZ-like looks, it was current Yamaha owners and fans that were drawn to it. For example, a user might already have a WR250F in their garage and enjoy it immensely, but taking it out for a day might require getting it into a truck and hauling it out to an approved location some distance away. Alternatively, attacking that maze of hilled forest trails open to eBikes just 15 minutes away on a YDX (Yamaha Dirt Experience) bike sounds equally enticing.

With the e-Bike market now booming and 12 models now in the lineup covering the road, gravel, and trails, what is next for Yamaha bicycles in America? One man involved with the project gave an answer: “Besides making headway with our lifestyle fitness line, what remains a continuing challenge for us is to keep getting the word out and the good news that we’re here. We really are a pioneer in this area, have done it a long time, and have a dependable, reliable high-tech product that we design in its entirety, from the motor to the frame and layout. That makes us unique here and we’ll push that point as we go forward.”

The start of development was in 2018. In the words of the development Project Leader (PL), “Since we had already launched the hardtail (no rear suspension) mountain bike (MTB) “YDX-TORC,” if we were going to develop a follow-up to that we naturally decided that we wanted to develop a full-suspension model with even greater off-road performance potential.” And the reason that the “Pro” designation was added to the product name was because of the determination to give it top-rate performance and to also designate it as a flagship model.

One of the main features of the YDX-MORO Pro is its “Dual Twin™ frame.” The fact that the shapes of its top-tube (pipe) and down-tube are in the same twin-tube format as that of motorcycles, makes it an innovative frame design for an e-bike. And the engineer in charge of the frame design who proposed it had formerly worked on the chassis design of MotoGP machines like the YZR-M1. Having also experienced riding road-racer bicycles, the moment he saw a video promoting the drive unit of an e-MTB (electric power assisted mountain bike), he thought, “This is what I want to do,” and filed a transfer request to work in e-bike development, and that is how he came to work on this model’s development project.

To give form to an ideal, it’s OK
if some heated discussions occur in the process

The engineer in charge of chassis design said, “In order to make a model that is light and agile and fun to ride, we kept to the concept of giving it a laterally positioned rear suspension. However, fastening that suspension to the top-tube would force the position of the top-tube to be raised, which would increase the possibility of it hitting the rider’s body on downhills, and it would also be disadvantageous from the standpoint of leg reach to the ground. In response to that, one of the people in charge of design proposed a radical idea, saying, ‘If you are going to divide the down-tube, why not divide the top-tube in two, as well?’”

That designer, who happened to be one who had also long enjoyed riding mountain bikes as a hobby, said, “The frame is where the designer shows their skills,” and he went on to focus on defying the tendency of a twin-tube structure to get bulky and rough-looking, and he instead proposed a design that looked as light as possible. To this, the PL responded with a warning, saying, ‘Don’t design it just for the sake of the design. Do a design that is backed by solid function!’ But we knew that if we were going to do it, it also had to be beautiful in the end, so we continued to propose and try out options for the positioning of the frame, the battery, and other components like the drive unit in search of a final design that really looked cool.”

In the process of giving form to these ideas, questions arose again and again. Giving the top-tube a two-pipe structure not only increased the width but also led to a lot of issues influencing the riding performance, such as the mounting position for the rear suspension, the relationship with the tire, and more. What’s more, things like the fact that three sizes (small/medium/large) of frames had to be designed, etc., meant that the task we faced was not easy. However, in the words of the PL, “We believed that because Yamaha is not just a bicycle maker, there were things that we could do that other (bicycle) makers couldn’t,” and as a result, it was possible to develop a hybrid-structured frame that was produced with a combination of aluminum pipe, forged parts, and hydro-forming manufacturing technology. The result was an ideal frame of finely detailed beauty that provided the required rigidity without making it too wide.

A “Natural Assist Feeling”
in touch with human sensibilities

The need to give the YDX-MORO Pro model-specific assist settings that fit the model’s character also required a repeated process of trial and error in the search of solutions. The engineer in charge of assist performance recalls that, “In Europe, the main type of assist settings were ones that provided for smooth propulsion, as if being pushed from behind by a steady force. However, the engineer in charge of chassis design for the YDX-MORO Pro, requested that it be given an assist character that ‘felt as if the rider was putting good effort into the pedaling”, and since that ran against the (European) market character, it honestly caused us some real concern.”

This feeling of “putting good effort into the pedaling” meant concentrating on getting the right pedaling feeling, and to get an assist feeling that felt as if it was a direct and positive reflection of the power the rider applied to the pedals in light of the conditions at that moment. In the case of a full-suspension off-road specification bicycle (mountain bike), however, the kind of assist performance that prevailed in Europe and North America would at times make it hard to control the feeling of being pushed by the motor. Regarding this, both the PL and the engineer in charge of chassis design shared a feeling from their experience that, for pedaling with linear response, an assist character that would immediately follow suit and settle down whenever the rider stopped pedaling would also make it a bike that was strong in uphill riding.

Understanding the aims and the ideas behind the model’s development, the engineer in charge of assist performance equipped the bike with a “quad-sensor system” consisting of pedaling torque, crank rpm, and speed sensors along with a sensor for inclination (tilt angle), and he chose the “PW-X2” drive unit with its capacity to accommodate high levels of crank rpm (cadence), with the aim of developing assist performance that would synchronize with the rider’s demands.
The engineer in charge of assist performance recalls that, “During the development, we changed the gears and tires almost every time and repeatedly designed, tested and analyzed the assist performance. We redesigned it so many times that I had to keep asking myself how long I had been at it.” And, as a result, he succeeded in developing an assist feeling that made him feel as if his pedaling force had gotten stronger.

Finally, the chassis designer said, “If the true defining quality of a sport bicycle is lightness, that means it is better not to have an electric power assist unit in the first place. That is not what we are trying to build. We are trying to create something between a motorcycle and a bicycle.”
In fact, the YDX-MORO Pro is a model that we spent three or four times more time and effort than usual to finally develop a model with true Yamaha character. The real appeal of the YDX-MORO Pro is a riding feeling that is as if its mechanisms are responding to the body and mind of the rider, and in that sense, it is neither a motorcycle nor a bicycle but a model that gives riders the experience of a whole new world of mobility. At the same time, it is a masterpiece that embodies Yamaha’s essential desire to create products that become something more than just “things” for their owners.