Battery swapping technology reverses the vicious cycle that larger batteries bring to bikes, where more kWh means more weight, bigger motors, bigger brakes and stronger suspension, all both add mass and mass to the mixture. Offers an extensive network of battery swap stations available (admittedly a big ask), allowing a dead battery to be replaced with a new one in seconds — faster, cheaper, and cleaner even fill up the tank — then stop often to make it less of a chore.
If you can reduce your bike’s range to 50 miles, but make the battery swap quick and easy, you’ll reap the rewards everywhere else. The battery, engine, brake, chassis and suspension components can all be reduced in size and weight without sacrificing performance, further increasing efficiency. Since the batteries are essentially rented out rather than owned by the customer, that means bikes using them can be significantly cheaper and worries about batteries weakening with age are also eliminated as the packages used in the battery swap network can be maintained to the minimum standard.
Even better, as technology improves, new batteries with larger capacities or less weight can be developed to meet the same physical dimensions and connectivity standards, increasing performance or range. vi works for all bikes that use them. More and more motorcycle manufacturers have realized the potential. Although it is possible to purchase a bicycle with a replaceable battery — e.g. a new Maeving RM1Honda’s Benly e and Gyro e, or from Yamaha Scooter by NEO– the step change will come with the introduction of standardized batteries and a network of battery swapping stations.
The coalition of companies working towards that goal is already substantial and growing rapidly. Since April 2019, the Japanese “Big Four”—Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki—have formed a working group to come up with standard battery specifications. Two years later, in March 2021, the results were in and that standard was set in technical paper for the Japan Society of Automotive Engineers.
In September 2021, a similar consortium was formed to do Same in EuropeThis time includes Honda, Yamaha, KTM (owner of the KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas brands), and the Piaggio Group which owns Vespa, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Gilera and Derbi, as well as the currently defunct Laverda.
At the time, Piaggio’s Chief Strategy Officer, Michele Colaninno, said: “Replaceable batteries offer the right answer to speeding up vehicle recharge times, providing an additional worthwhile alternative. for users”. Stefan Pierer, CEO of KTM’s parent group, Pierer Mobility, added that “together with our partners, we will work to deliver a replaceable battery system for low-voltage vehicles.” (48V) power up to 11 kW, based on international technical standards. “
As Pierer suggested, the Japan-based replaceable battery specification, which the European consortium is also targeting, is for 48-volt battery packs, essentially reflecting an ecosystem where Honda has set up with Mobile power pack e replaceable batteries, revealed in 2018. These batteries are used in a number of Honda scooters in the Japanese market, including Electrical PCX, Gyro e, and Benly e, but are also designed for use in a range of other devices from snow blowers to electric walls. Like other standard batteries, they can be used singly or grouped together to increase performance or durability. Swedish manufacturer Husqvarna’s e-Pilen—A concept bike coming to production in 2021 — also uses three removable battery packs that appear to be very similar to Honda’s 48-volt design, likely used to power the machine robot lawn mowers, chainsaws, mowers, brush cutters, and garden tractors it produces.
However, standardizing batteries is only the first step: The much larger task is to establish a network that supplies, charges, and swaps them. Earlier this year, in April 2022, Japan’s original battery swap group of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki teamed up with ENEOS Holdings, Japan’s largest oil company, to form a company. new, Gachacoassign tasks to them.
“Battery as a Service” for electric motorcycles and scooters eliminates worries about charging time and range, which are seen as major roadblocks on the road to EV dominance in the market bicycle. Honda’s e-mobile power pack will be the standard battery used, with exchange stations to be set up across Japan starting from Tokyo this fall, at convenient locations such as train stations and ENEOS filling station, instantly allowing access to the nationwide network.
Since the European battery swap group is likely to adopt a similar set of specifications, thus allowing the same Honda-designed package to become essentially a global standard, the Japanese model is likely to be capacity will be launched to this market in the world in the next year or two.
With it, we can expect a rapid growth in the number of motorcycles in the market using standard replaceable batteries. Most are capable of being in the smaller, cheaper segment of the market, equivalent to 125 cc petrol engines, producing no more than 11 kW (15 hp) of continuous power (although peak power can significantly higher) and comply with European standards. The law is for learners, thus eliminating the need for a full motorcycle license and allowing anyone with a valid CBT (Required Basic Training) certificate, obtained after just one day of training , use them.
