Bosch Group’s e-bikes phase has risen from a rounding error on earnings statements to $1 billion in annual income and the worldwide market share chief.

Paul Thomas, soon-to-be president of Bosch Mobility Americas, mentioned the income turnover is good, however the success of the bike enterprise is not essentially measured in {dollars}. For the German tech and auto behemoth with $93.1 billion in gross sales yearly, bike motors are ancillary to automotive elements, home equipment and software program.

The corporate’s e-bikes unit represents the flexibility to diversify, Thomas mentioned, and at a time when the automotive business is being pulled in all totally different instructions – ICE to EV to hydrogen – diversification is the ticket to survival within the provide world. Just lately passing the $1 billion gross sales mark was a milestone and innovation proof level, Thomas mentioned.

“It is vital as a result of I believe it exhibits that Bosch is ready to work in a number of areas of mobility and to take merchandise which may not have had their beginnings in bikes however have been generated primarily based upon our know-how, and to see a necessity in a market that perhaps nobody noticed earlier than us,” Thomas instructed Crain’s in an interview this week on the Heart for Automotive Analysis Administration Enterprise Seminars in Traverse Metropolis.

Housed inside Bosch’s mobility division primarily based in Farmington Hills, Mich., the e-bike enterprise provides electrical motors, batteries and shows to a number of the largest bike manufacturers on the earth, together with its largest buyer, Trek.

The corporate expects main progress as the recognition of e-bikes explodes world wide. As with the automotive enterprise, connectivity is the subsequent frontier for e-bikes. The corporate is growing new software program for various providers on the bikes, which it expects to be one other progress driver.

The bikes have additionally helped improve model consciousness, Thomas mentioned, demonstrating how the corporate is “in a position to scale one thing to a really excessive stage, and we’re in a position to ship high quality.”

Along with e-bikes, Thomas highlighted huge bets on hydrogen and semiconductors. Bosch is planning to take a position about $2.75 billion on hydrogen tech by 2026, and it has transformed inside combustion-focused vegetation in Germany and South Carolina to hydrogen. In the identical timeframe, the corporate mentioned it is going to plow $3 billion into its semiconductor enterprise.

Among the many splashy investments and daring visions, Thomas additionally tucked in a point out of the Detroit Sensible Parking Lab, a enterprise between Bosch, Ford Motor Co., the Michigan Financial Growth Corp. and Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock actual property firm. The American Heart for Mobility, tapped to function the Detroit facility when it was introduced in 2021, opted out after the primary 12 months.

Thomas mentioned the companions have dedicated to persevering with the challenge, which goals to develop mobility and concrete parking options, equivalent to automated valet parking and wi-fi charging.

Automated valet parking developed on the lab has been deployed for industrial use in California and Europe. The lab additionally invitations startups to tinker with their very own know-how. Stellantis was launched to HEVO’s wi-fi charging tech on the lab earlier than the automaker signed the startup to a contract.

The lab shouldn’t be a revenue-generating operation for the founding corporations, Thomas mentioned. The worth is in model consciousness and engagement with town and startup.

“It is principally opportunity-generating for our firm,” Thomas mentioned. “We love Detroit, so we mentioned, how might we get an actual presence within the metropolis that offers with issues that town may even see?”

The enterprise seems to be working properly for Bosch, as a result of it’s planning one other mobility challenge within the metropolis of Detroit akin to the parking lab. The corporate is holding mum on particulars, although, not less than for one more few weeks.