Electric bikes - battery swapping

[StephenC]

Well this is logical. It makes the concept of stop & swap "refuelling" a reality, making it pretty much as convenient as stopping for petrol is now.

Honda announced today that the company has signed a letter of intent with KTM AG, Piaggio & C SpA and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. to set up a Swappable Batteries Consortium for Motorcycles and Light Electric Vehicles

The aim of the Consortium will be to define the standardized technical specifications of the swappable battery system for vehicles belonging to the L-category; mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles. By working closely with interested stakeholders and national, European and international standardization bodies, the founding members of the Consortium will be involved in the creation of international technical standards. The Consortium will start its activities in May 2021.

https://www.automotiveworld.com/news-re ... -vehicles/

Although I assume their efforts won't give us something usable for, what, 3 or 4 years maybe? (total guess)

[StephenC]

MCN noticed the release too

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/ele ... batteries/

[2wheelover51]

The future has arrived!

[roadster]

Kymco have offered this for several years but as far as I know it hasn't been implemented outside Taiwan and similar areas. The fact is that batteries are the most expensive part of an electric scooter so the cost of having spare ones which are maintained and secured in a public location is a hard sell and very impractical outside of big cities. Of course if buyers want to invest in extra batteries then they just need to be easy to swap over.

[StephenC]

Surely the most likely places to have these would be motorway service stations rather than in urban areas? As then you can really forget all about range anxiety. I do think this is a game-changer for adoption of electric scoots meant for more than just inner city commuting.

[MrGrumpy]

Well, yes, but the snag is that whilst general recharging / battery swapping facilities might be available on M-ways and in Urban areas, they are (for the forseeable future) likely to be very scarce if you go even slightly off the beaten track. This means that whilst range anxiety may vanish for many uses, it won't for much leisure / holiday use, meaning that you still might need a petrol alternative.
btw I saw somewhere that petrol powered bikes/scoots will still allowed to be sold after 2030.

[Red Dog]

I wonder if it would be legal to have a battery powered push bike with a small petrol generator which only charged the battery.

[MrGrumpy]

I wonder if it would be legal to have a battery powered push bike with a small petrol generator which only charged the battery.

Hmmm......I guess that would count as a petrol electric, or in modern parlance, a self-charging hybrid! So I guess it would have to be classed as a motorbike, requiring being registered, taxed, MOT'd, ride to wear crash helmet, plus whatever technical rules there might be!

[Red Dog]

I wonder if it would be legal to have a battery powered push bike with a small petrol generator which only charged the battery.

Hmmm......I guess that would count as a petrol electric, or in modern parlance, a self-charging hybrid! So I guess it would have to be classed as a motorbike, requiring being registered, taxed, MOT'd, ride to wear crash helmet, plus whatever technical rules there might be!

Hmmm... Complicated.

[2wheelover51]

Lets face it the UK government will grab any opportunity to charge road tax. Many of the small engined devices which are free to use in Europe and the US are subject to tax in the UK.
I think it's always been like that since they scrapped the red flag act.