Nearly half a year ago, KTM, Honda, Yamaha, and Piaggio signed a letter of intent to team up for swappable electric-vehicle batteries. Now, the four have officially signed the agreement for the creation of the Swappable Batteries Motorcycle Consortium (SBMC).
The founding members of the SBMC are committed to the promotion of light electric vehicles like mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, tricycles, and quadricycles as viable means of urban mobility. The four manufacturers also believe the development of swappable battery systems is key to the development of electrified mobility.
Common concerns consumers may have with electric vehicles include cost, range, charging time, and infrastructure. To address these issues, the SBMC has come up with the following goals:
- Develop common technical specifications of the swappable battery systems
- Confirm common usage of the battery systems
- Make and promote the consortium’s common specifications a standard within European and international standardization bodies
- Expand the use of the consortium's common specification to a global level
Through the formation of the SBMC, the four companies aim to develop and deploy easily accessible charging infrastructure globally to support their goals of making easy electric mobility a reality.
Stefan Pierer, CEO of KTM and Pierer Mobility, said: “Together with our partners, we will work to deliver a swappable battery system for low-voltage vehicles (48V) up to 11kW capacity, based on international technical standards. We very much look forward to ensuring that powered two-wheeler vehicles maintain their role in the future of both urban and non-urban mobility.”
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopBikes.ph. Minor edits have been made.
