Piaggio, KTM, Honda and Yamaha form a Swappable Batteries Consortium
Piaggio Auto has recently announced signing a letter of intent with KTM, Honda and Yamaha to form a swappable batteries consortium for uniformisation of batteries used in their upcoming two-wheelers, which includes mopeds, motorcycles, scooters as well as light electric vehicles such as tricycles and quadricycles. The consortium will work on standardizing the technical specifications of the swappable battery system for these vehicles.
Further, the stakeholders will work with the national, international and European standards to help create the international technical standards for EVs. The Consortium will start its activities in May 2021. The members of the consortium believe that the standardization will promote the widespread use of light electric vehicles and contribute to a more sustainable life-cycle management of batteries used in the transport sector. By addressing the range anxiety with longer range batteries, shortening of charging time, and lowering vehicle and infrastructure costs, manufacturers believe to bolster the image of EVs.
With the signing of this letter of intent", commented Michele Colaninno, Piaggio Group Chief of strategy and product, "the signatories show their proactiveness vis--vis the major concerns of their customers and the political priorities as regards the electrification of vehicles. An international standard for the swappable batteries system will make this technology efficient and at the disposal of the consumers. Finally," concluded Michele Colaninno, "a strengthened cooperation among manufacturers and institutions will allow the industry to better respond to the main challenges of the future of mobility."
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