Newer Shimano motor reliabilty?

Off the back of the Cotic thread and others, I’m getting the impression recently that Shimano have improved the reliability of their motors.

Is the negativity on the Cotic thread now old hat? Bird ditched their original ebike project due to the motors problems.

If this is the case, maybe newer Shimano owners can let us know?

Is the negativity on the Cotic thread now old hat? Bird ditched their original ebike project due to the motors problems.

Thats not quite correct; it’s true we didn’t launch it as we had had many problems, however I can tell you the prototype bikes are still in service/long term testing and the failure rate has fallen way down to what I would say is acceptable levels (for eBikes). Newer Shimano motors do seem to be considerably better sealed than the earlier versions, and Shimano (in the UK at least) has improved the warranty turnaround alot.

Reputation might take a while to recover, although it might not matter if the buyers aren’t much aware of the history.

When I was looking at options recently, non-Shimano motor was the first criteria I used to narrow down the list.