Swap, ride, repeat: KYMCO electric scooters heading for international expansion
It looks like Taiwanese motorbike maker KYMCO is ready to take its battery-swapping IONEX electric scooter platform global, starting with Thailand. The news comes to us in the form of a recently announced Thai partnership set up around the company’s battery-swapping system.
Just a few hours ago, the Thai company Arun Plus filed a notice with The Stock Exchange of Thailand announcing that it had entered into a joint venture with KYMCO to create Aionex Company Limited.
According to the filing, “Aionex’s vision aims to be a leader of two-wheeler electric vehicles in Thailand and ASEAN, which includes not only to sale and production of two-wheeler electric vehicles, but also to provide battery swapping service.”
KYMCO’s IONEX battery swapping platform is the key to its electric scooter program, providing small lithium batteries that can be removed from the scooters and recharged in a cabinet-style charging station. Riders can swap a freshly charged battery in its place, allowing them to ride off without waiting for the depleted battery to recharge.
The agreement doesn’t indicate exactly when the joint venture could begin production and operation of KYMCO’s electric scooters or battery swapping stations in Thailand but says that it would likely begin sometime this year.
The filing also reveals that the new joint venture will have a market cap of 600 million baht (approximately US $17 million).
The news follows KYMCO’s own announcement last month that it was investing approximately US $142 million in its IONEX electric scooter and battery swapping.
We’ve known that the company has eyed the European market for its electric scooters, but the Asian market in ASEAN block countries would consist of a much larger rider base.
The company is also working on developing a pair of high-power electric motorcycles, the SuperNEX and RevoNEX. We last saw two prototypes for the sporty bikes at EICMA 2022, where KYMCO has regularly made large announcements regarding its electric two-wheeler programs.
Electrek’s Take
This is a very interesting development because it shows that KYMCO is set on putting up a serious fight in the battery-swapping electric scooter market.
Gogoro, a rival Taiwanese electric scooter company with a massive battery swapping network, has long held the top spot for battery swaps. But as KYMCO has poured money into its own program, the company appears to be set on closing the gap. Now that IONEX’s battery swapping is expanding internationally similarly to its rival’s international proliferation, that showdown is likely to become even more interesting.
Gogoro has yet to expand to Thailand, so far focusing on several larger markets such as India, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines, among other smaller countries. But with Thailand being another heavily two-wheeler-focused market, I’d imagine it’s on the company’s list.
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Chevron is not seeing signs that the U.S. is close to a recession even as President Donald Trump’s tariffs weigh on expectations for oil demand, CEO Mike Wirth said Tuesday.
“There’s no signs that we see at this point that we are in or close to a recession,” Wirth told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “There are signs that growth may be slowing and we have to always be prepared for that.”
The International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its growth outlook for the U.S. this year to 1.8%, down from 2.7% previously.
The oil market is expecting reduced demand as a consequence of Trump’s tariffs and the decision by OPEC+ increase production faster than expected, Wirth said. Chevron isn’t changing its capital spending plans in response to drop in prices, the CEO said.
U.S. crude oil prices have fallen about 11% since Trump announced his tariffs on April 2. West Texas Intermediate was last up about 72 cents at $63.80 per barrel. OPEC and the International Energy Agency have cut their demand outlooks for this year.
Wirth said U.S. onshore oil production in patches like the Permian Basin is likely to pull back if prices hit $60 per barrel. Offshore production likely won’t be affected, he said.
“That’s an area where if we were to be at a $60 price or even lower you’re likely to see activity pull back in this sector and you’ll see the production response over a few months,” Wirth said. “That’s what we should watch, not so much the deep water activity.”
Chevron is not expecting a major direct impact on its business from Trump’s tariffs as energy has largely been exempt from the levies, Wirth said.
“The effects that we feel are likely to be more the macroeconomic effects as they flow through the economy,” Wirth said. “The bigger issues would be what would it mean for growth, and global trade and how does that evolve.”
Executives at oil and gas companies were scathing in their criticism of Trump’s tariffs in an anonymous March survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, warning that steel tariffs were raising their costs and low prices could impact their activity.
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Little is known about super-secretive EV startup Slate, but the fledgling brand is rumored to be backed by Jeff Bezos and determined to shake up the existing electric order with an affordable lineup of compact SUVs and pickups with that golden $25,000 price tag.
Now, at least, we know what it’s gonna look like. The battle of the billionaires is on!
Redditor jonjopop over at the spotted subreddit spotted what looks like an early prototype of an unbranded SUV with bizarre “CryShare” wrap. CryShare, as a concept, seems to combine the functionality of a ride sharing app like Uber or Lyft with the familiar (to parent, anyway) idea that small babies will often sleep better in a moving car than in their own cribs … but that’s not what’s important here.
Instead, focus on the vehicle itself – parked on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Los Angeles without explanation or fanfare, this is our best look yet at the kind of vehicle(s) Slate is likely to reveal in the coming days.
Stumbled upon the Bezosmobile [Slate Automotive…idk?] being revealed with an absolutely bizarre marketing campaign
byu/jonjopop inspotted
Other local automotive journalists caught wind of the public unveiling, too – and our friends at The Autopian (Hi, Matt!) sent their own David Tracy out on the streets of LA to check it out. Tracy took the following video and posted it to Instagram.
The Slate breaking cover and causing buzz just ahead of what’s sure to be a painful Q1 earnings call for Tesla is a masterstroke of marketing – especially as doubts surrounding the viability of a “less expensive” Tesla Model Y or Model 3 continue to mount amid the uncertainty of Trump’s tariffs and declining sales of the brand’s more profitable models both at home and abroad.
As with so much involving Slate, however, there is nothing here written in stone – or even cast in cheese. Nothing has been announced, nothing is promised, and for all we know this might have more to do with the affordable Rivian brand launch, a new BYD, or be a viral marketing bit from some local Art Center design student in (relatively) nearby Pasadena. In fact, about the only thing I think we can say about Bezos (?) new Slate project with confidence today is this: Elon could probably use that drink.
SOURCES | IMAGES: Reddit, The Autopian.
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