8
They almost buried the lede:
From an OEM perspective, the appeal is pretty clear. A universal mounting standard and unified CANBUS communication system can reduce tooling costs, simplify inventory, and shorten development timelines. Ananda says future M7000 derivatives will remain backward compatible, allowing brands to adapt quickly as market demands shift without starting from scratch with entirely new frame designs.
There is a real problem with the ebike market today, when compared to the bicycle market, which is the wholesale lack of standardized parts. Sure, the the bicycle in the 19th Century also didn't have standardized parts, but the difference is now very apparent: for acoustic bikes, there are just six standards for bottom brackets, but are almost as many mid-drive ebike motor mounting patterns as there are manufacturers, of which there are many. This is just one example, and one can find incompatible ebike brake sensor, CAN vs UART data buses, headlight voltages, HUDs, and more.
Without standardized parts, there cannot be widespread availability of parts. Without parts, there cannot be bike shops that can sustainably maintain people's ebikes, nor can riders attempt to extend the life of their ebikes on the road. Without modular replaceable parts, more e-waste and bicycle waste will be produced. Without standardization, vendor lock-in is the natural result, yielding unnecessarily higher prices for consumers.
We need commoditization of basic ebike components, and there are no sufficently-large players that can throw their heft around for force the change. Compare to, say, Shimano, who can basically create a new racing bike standard out of thin air, and the industry will comply.
So I do appreciate when a manufacturer comes out with an ostensible standards-based lineup, promising backwards compatibility. But I'm also skeptical: in computer design, some of the longest-lasting standards are: the IBM PC (1980s IBM design adopted by clone manufacturers), PCI (1990s, from a consortium of PC makers), and color-coded ports for mouse/keyboard/VGA (2000s Intel-led consortium). What we see is that the most durable standards (de facto or otherwise) are multilateral in nature: it takes multiple players to agree to standardize. Not necessarily with each other manufacturer, but consistency within the same company would help.
If we get to the stage where there are "format wars" over the specs for a mid-drive ebike motor, then that would be genuine progress, because a format war means we can identify actual factions that are producing those standards. HD DVD fans were certainly disappointed to lose the war to Blu Ray, but it never deprived them of their ability to watch what they already bought. Fortunately, bicycles are durable goods and can last for a lot longer than a stamped optical disk.