Seems dumb. It would take a lot of energy to heat up the wire over and over and energy is at a premium on ebikes. Especially if the chain wasn’t cooperating and more force were required which I assume would mean more heat would be required. Also that seems a little slow compared to an electromagnetic solution. The only advantage in my view is that it has fewer moving parts.
Additionally it sounds like they are planning on using some energy to maintain the heat in the wire:
"Heat would continue to be supplied to the operational wire periodically but not constantly in order for it to maintain its heated state and keep the chain guide in position. The system would be operated by "an electric current generator installable in a pedal crankset of the bicycle"
Although I imagine they could get around this with some sort of toggle spring mechanism to hold it in place.
