Yamaha Unveils e-Scooter With Battery Swapping Technology

Swappable batteries are coming.

02:16

Sabrina Giacomini

By: Sabrina Giacomini

Jun 11, 2019 at 7:00am ET

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An increasing number of companies are showing an interest in battery swapping technologies. Only a few months ago, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Honda, and Suzuki announced they were joining forces to fast forward the development of swappable battery technology. This system could, in fact, solve the biggest roadblocks the electric vehicle industry has been facing until now: limited autonomy and long charging times. Yamaha is the first of the Japanese giants to launch an electric scooter with battery swapping capability.

Already back in September, prior to the creation of the Big Four’s partnership, Yamaha announced it was teaming up with Taiwanese manufacturer Gogoro to work on an electric scooter with a swappable battery. Today, the Yamaha EC-05 makes its official debut. Gogoro is a well-established company in the field of electric powertrains and swappable batteries, which is the expertise it brought to this partnership. Yamaha brought the design to the table.

In fact, as the name very succinctly explains, battery swapping technology would allow the owner of an electric motorcycle or scooter to stop at a station, remove the depleted battery from his vehicle and pick up a freshly charged one. Charging stops would become as quick and efficient as a stop at the gas station.

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The new electric powertrain specs have yet to be announced. Our colleagues at Electrek have however suggested that it will offer similar numbers to the existing Gogoro 2 Series scooters, with a range of roughly 60 miles and a top speed of 50 to 60 mph.

Yamaha plans to initially deploy the EC-05 in Taiwan sometime in August but won't stop there. with the project to make it a global model sooner rather than later. Gogoro already has a foot on the European market thanks to ride-sharing programs. Combined with Yamaha's notoriety, the EC-05 should eventually make its way around the world.

Source: Electrek