The Sram Eagle Powertrain motor and new battery tech!

Motor
Sram Eagle Powertrain
Battery
630 Wh and 720 Wh
There have been rumors about a new Sram motor all year. And now, all of a sudden, the Sram Eagle Powertrain is here. Check out Robs video for all the info about motor, autoshift and so on. But if you care about battery tech, remember to read the rest of this article.


The Sram Eagle Powertrain motor​

This new motor is labeled “Powered by BROSE”, and it might very well be the Brose Magnesium S motor that has been adapted for Sram. It’s a 90 Nm motor rated at 680 W max. It weighs in at 2.9 kg.

Sram Eagle Powertrain motor


Autoshift​

Whether it’s all new or not, the motor would have to be adapted to run the Autoshift algorithms and it would need additional hardware for connection and processing.

The Sram autoshift only works with the Sram Transmission drivetrain, and it only works with this new motor. Not having tested this myself, it appears similar to the Shimano Autoshift. The system changes gears based on cadence, and it can be over-ridden or completely turned off. These systems must be able to shift under load, and the Sram Transmission drivetrain is designed to do so.

It shifts under load!


There’s also the “Coast Shift” function that allows the drivetrain to shift gears when not pedalling. It’s a nice function that allows the Autoshift to shift to the correct gear as speed goes up or down while coasting. And as you would expect, the Sram Transmission electronic derailleur now draws power directly from the main battery.

The Sram Eagle Powertrain components​

It seems the left shifter has returned, but it hasn’t! The shifter on the right side of the handlebars is indeed a shifter, it operates the Sram AXS T-type drivetrain. Sram calls this the AXS Pod controller. The very similar looking Pod on the left side controls the motor and Autoshift settings. But there is no reason to be alarmed, it controls the AXS dropper post too, which is what we all expect from a lever/button on the left side.

Two Sram AXS Pods handles all tasks


“The Eagle Powertrain AXS Bridge Display” is the name of the display that mounts on the frame. It’s a waterproof, illuminated, gorillaglass protected color display. There's also the "Eagle Powertrain AXS app" that lets you tweak and personalize settings.

Eagle Powertrain AXS Bridge Display
 AXS Pod controller
Sram AXS Transmission, aka T-Type

The batteries!​

It might just be me, but this is what had me the most excited. No, not the 720 Wh battery running 21700/5Ah cells. And no, not the 250 Wh range extender that can be mounted where the bottle cage sits. See my battery video or keep on reading.



It’s the 630 Wh battery! The battery that was supposed to sit in Robs demo bike. I guess it’s not ready yet. It’s a 3 kg battery with higher energy density cells. I’m pretty sure it’s the new LG M58T cells. A high-nickel litium-ion cell with an energy density of 285 Wh/kg. These have been rumored since early 2022, and it seems they’ve finally reached the ebike market.

There's room for a range extender...
...or a bottle.

A Sram battery


Now why is this such a big deal to me? The last leap in battery technology was back in about 2015. A regular ebike battery went from 400 Wh to 500 Wh with practically no weight increase. This time we’re seeing a 16% increase in capacity, which means a 5Ah cell of the 21700 format is now 5.8Ah. Your 540 Wh battery from Orbea or YT can suddenly be built with a capacity of 630 Wh. The 360 Wh battery in many lightweight emtbs can now be built as a 420 Wh battery. Future versions of your 720 Wh battery will be 840 Wh. All this while fitting in the same battery enclosure. And weight remains the same.

The Sram display
The Sram display again
A peak at the app

Wait…​

Why does the new Sram motor come with a 720 Wh battery and not an 840 Wh? Who knows, I guess the new battery cells aren’t ready yet. And perhaps Sram can’t get as many of them as they want? The 630 Wh battery isn’t out yet, so I guess Sram went with the 720 Wh battery to have a product ready for the launch.

It seems Transition and Propain will be putting out Sram powered bikes


Which bikes get the Sram motor?​

I’m looking forward to testing a bike with this motor system. But what bikes will we get? Judging by the press images, we get a Propain and a Transition. Also, the press kit mentions Nukeproof and GasGas. Some bikes should be out this fall.

 Sram Eagle Powertrain


My take​

The future of battery tech is here. And so is a very interesting motorsystem. The Sram Eagle Powertrain will work with any drivetrain. But the integration of the Sram AXS Transmission drivetrain is very interesting. Now both Sram and Shimano have motors that can be combined with wireless shifting to acheive automatic shifting. These are systems designed to shift under load. In addition, the design with no dropout makes the Sram Transmission more solid in the sense that it can handle impacts better.

A clean and balanced looking cockpit
About author
knut7
Main editor at emtbforums.com and owner of emtb.no.
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Comments

On the new gasgas ebike the two lower models run gasgas droppers so I'm interested in how you switch modes on the bike because it seems you need sram axs pods to change them hence why they have axs droppers on most of the bikes ?
It runs a cable to the bars like a normal post but I'd be interested to see how that works with the ASX pod. I couldn't find any pictures of it.
 
IMO, E-bikes really are going in the wrong direction, and this is another step in that direction. Heavy, fast, expensive, automated...

Old man screams at clouds...
 
IMO, E-bikes really are going in the wrong direction, and this is another step in that direction. Heavy, fast, expensive, automated...

Old man screams at clouds...
Really? It seems like the lightweight/middleweight category is almost all we've had on offer for the past 12 months. Now some new full fat options are hitting the market which is a welcome addition in my mind.

I'm with you on on some of this new Sram auto shift tech. The only thing that I do like is the Coast Shift option but I certainly wouldn't upgrade to a new bike just to get that feature.

Where I ride mostly, there are a lot of fire roads to climb to get to decent downhill trails. I want to be able to power up that stuff as fast as possible and do as many loops as possible. I'd love to see more modularity in full fat bike with the option to have a smaller lighter main battery and or a these larger more efficient batteries if needed but also carry one or more range extenders as needed. The more options the better. Sram seems to be offering more of that than the other big names so far.
 
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