The vicious circle that larger batteries bring for bikes, where more kWh means more weight, a bigger motor, bigger brakes, and stronger suspension, is reversed with the use of battery swapping technology. It becomes less of a chore if there is a widespread network of battery swap stations that allow dead batteries to be replaced with fresh ones in a matter of seconds.
If you can make the battery swap process easy and fast, you can reduce the bike's range. The battery, motor, brakes, chassis, and suspension parts can all be reduced in size and weight. Since the batteries are leased rather than owned by the customer, it means bikes using them can be substantially cheaper and the packs used in the battery swap network can be kept up to a minimum standard.
As technology improves, new batteries with greater capacity or less weight can be developed to meet the same physical size and connection standards, giving a boost to performance. Many motorcycle manufacturers have seen the potential. The change will come with the introduction of standardized batteries and a network of battery swap.
The alliance of companies is growing quickly. The Japanese Big Four established a working group to work on a standard battery specification. The standard was set out in a technical paper for the Society of automotive Engineers of Japan after the results were in.
In September 2021, a similar consortium was set up to do the same in Europe, this time including Honda, Yamaha, and the Piaggio Group that owns Vespa, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Gilera, andDER.
"Swappable batteries give the right answer to speed up the recharging time of vehicles, offering an additional valuable choice for users." The CEO of Pierer Mobility said that they would work to deliver a swappable battery system for low-voltage vehicles up to 11 kilowatts.
As Pierer suggested, the swappable battery specification set in Japan, which the European consortium is also targeting, is for 48volt battery packs, which is similar to Honda's Mobile Power Pack e swappable batteries. The PCX Electric, the Gyro e, and the Benly e are just a few of the Honda scooters that use those batteries. They can be used single or grouped together to improve performance. The e-Pilen is a near-production concept bike that uses threeremovable battery packs that appear to be very similar to the Honda 48-volt design, which could potentially be used to power robotic lawn-mowers, chainsaws, trimmers.
Setting up a network to supply, charge, and swap batteries is more important than standardizing them. The original Japanese battery swap consortium of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki formed a new company called Gachaco with the help of Japan's largest oil company.
The main roadblock in the path to EV domination in the two-wheeled market is the worry of charging times and range. The Honda Mobile Power Pack e will be the standard battery used, with exchange stations to be set up across Japan starting in Tokyo this fall, at convenient spots like train stations and ENEOS filling stations.
Since the European battery swap consortium is likely to adopt a similar set of specifications, the Japanese model is likely to be rolled out on this side of the world in the next couple of years.
There will be a rapid growth in the number of motorcycles on the market with it. Most are likely to be at the lower end of the market, equivalent to 125cc petrol-powered machines making no more than 15hp of continuous power and complying with European learner laws.
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