Honda's continued efforts for successful e-motorbike battery swapping

author: FutureCar Staff    

The field of swappable batteries for electric motorbikes is experiencing rapid growth, and Honda is making efforts to catch up by introducing its own design. Honda's Mobile Power Pack e: (MPPe:) is being launched in Indonesia as part of the company's strategy to expand its international market share.

The Honda MPPe: is a swappable motorbike battery similar to the Gogoro-style battery. It is accompanied by the Honda Power Pack Exchanger e: (HPPEe:), which serves as a battery cabinet.

While Honda has been slow to embrace electric vehicles, this delay extends beyond cars to its motorcycle division as well.

Honda's swappable battery system has been in existence for several years but has not been widely used outside of a few local Japanese trials. However, after collaborating with Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki to establish a swappable battery consortium, Honda is now positioning its battery as a competing standard.

The Honda EM1 electric scooter was Honda's attempt to introduce this battery into Europe, and now the company is targeting Indonesia as its next market.

Indonesia has a large population of 275 million, with a significant number of households relying on motorbikes for daily commuting. Although electric vehicles currently represent a small percentage of the market, the availability of more options is expected to increase their adoption. Honda aims to capitalize on this trend by introducing its EM1 electric motorbike in Indonesia.

In Indonesia, Honda is offering the EM1 for sale with or without batteries. The package without batteries is priced at approximately US $2,600, while the package with batteries included costs around US $2,930. The latter option implies a reliance on battery-swapping subscriptions.

Honda's battery-swapping cabinets function similarly to Gogoro's, but they do not automatically recognize the user and scooter based on battery information. Instead, users need to swipe a membership card to activate the station and swap batteries.

My Take: It is encouraging to see Honda finally taking electric motorbikes more seriously. However, the proliferation of different standards for swappable batteries may create confusion. While it is understandable to have concerns about relying on a single company for battery management and profits, having numerous types of swappable batteries also has drawbacks. Honda is still in the early stages of development and seems to be following Gogoro's footsteps by entering markets where Gogoro has established itself. Gogoro's extensive experience and high number of battery swaps suggest that they have mastered this technology while other companies are still experimenting. It appears that the industry is already leaning towards choosing a winner, with several companies designing their scooters to accommodate Gogoro's batteries, including Yamaha, a member of Honda's battery consortium.

FutureCar Staff