Bosch Active Line Plus: 60 Nm, and the 600 Watts Did Not Move

Bosch eBike Systems put out a US press release on 22 October 2026, from Foothill Ranch, and the wire carried it on 26 October. The headline is a new Active Line Plus: up to 60 Nm, 600 watts, 340 percent support, about 6 pounds, 17 percent smaller, a two-stage gearbox, and Class 1 pedal assist to 20 mph. The EU product page for that unit, part BDU344Y, prints the same torque, the same 600 watts, the same 340 percent, a rounded weight of 2.7 kg, and a maximum supported speed of 25 km/h. The page for the motor it replaces, BDU334Y, is still up. That one is 50 Nm, 600 watts, 340 percent, and 3.2 kg. Peak watts did not change. Support percent did not change. The continuous rating did not change. Torque went from 50 to 60. This is a reading of those pages. It is not a SickEBike ride.

What moved, and what the old page already said

A newton-meter is torque. A watt is torque times how fast the shaft is turning. The motors guide is that split, and it already uses this motor as the example: a 60 Nm mid-drive and an 85 Nm hub are not numbers you subtract. Sixty newton-meters at 70 rpm is 440 watts. The new table’s 70 rpm cell is 366.5 watts. Those two cells are not the same instant. Bosch does not print the cadence where the 60 Nm is available. It may be a lower cadence. It may be a cell the table did not update. This desk cannot see which, because the page does not say. What it does say is that the peak watt is still 600, and 600 watts is not 440.

The watt peak did not change. The 70 rpm cell is still the 50 Nm product. The new number is 60 Nm, and Bosch does not print the cadence where that 60 arrives.

Six pounds is 2.7 kilograms

The US release says the unit weighs about 6 pounds and is about 1.1 pounds lighter, from a new two-stage gearbox, and that the volume is 17 percent smaller. The EU page says about 2.7 kg and about 500 grams lighter, and the same 17 percent. 2.7 kilograms is 5.95 pounds. 500 grams is 1.10 pounds. 3.2 minus 2.7 is 0.5. There is no second motor hiding in the rounding. There is also no volume in cubic centimeters, so 17 percent is a claim without a before-and-after size. The specific power, 222 against 188, is the 600 watts divided by the rounded weight. It is not a dyno this desk repeated.

The US release adds a materials line the spec table does not. Around 40 percent recycled aluminum in the housing, and a separate sentence that this cuts almost half the CO2 emissions compared with conventional aluminum. Forty percent of the metal is not the same sentence as half the emissions. Both are Bosch’s. This desk did not see the inventory. Dave Howard, the Americas general manager, says the line has been one of their popular units for nine years, and that machined gears make the new one virtually silent. “Virtually silent” is his adjective. The old page already sold the BDU334Y as the quiet one.

Twenty miles an hour is the US cap, not a faster motor

The federal low-speed bicycle, 15 U.S.C. § 2085, is pedals, a motor of less than 750 watts, and less than 20 mph on the motor alone. The US release says Class 1 and pedal assist only, up to 20 mph. Six hundred watts of peak is under 750. Twenty miles an hour is the Class 1 assist line, which is 32.2 km/h. The EU page’s 25 km/h is 15.5 mph. Canada’s page for the old motor already said 32 km/h. None of those caps is a throttle, and none of them is a new top speed the gearbox invented. A Gazelle Ultimate T10 card this desk already filed says Active Line Plus and 60 Nm. It does not say BDU344Y. Do not write the part number onto that bike because the torque matches. The US law pillar is the state layer on top of the 20 mph line. This motor does not get a rider past it.

The public film is from June

Walk assist with Hill Hold, and hill-start assist with Hill Hold, are marked on both the new table and the old one. Gear-shift detection is still yes for a derailleur and no for a hub. A backpedal brake is still no on a derailleur bike and optional on a hub. The US release says the unit works with eShift. The EU fetch named a PowerTube 540 and did not hand this desk a full battery menu, so this page will not invent one. The watt-hour page is how to read a pack once a bike using this motor actually prints one.

Who it is for

This is the city and light-trekking mid-drive, not a trail motor and not a hub you can buy in a crate. Buy the sentence that is on the bike’s own card: 60 Nm if the card says 60, and the part number if the card says BDU344Y. Do not pay for “more powerful” as if the 600 watts moved. Do not treat 366.5 watts at 70 rpm as proof of the 60 Nm. Do not average 25 km/h and 20 mph into one top speed. The weight cut is real on Bosch’s own pages, half a kilogram, and the two press phrasings are that same half kilogram. This desk did not ride it.