Honda is still trying to make its swappable electric motorbike batteries a thing
The field of swappable batteries for electric motorbikes is booming, and Honda is trying to play catch up with its own design. The Honda Mobile Power Pack e: (MPPe:) is headed to Indonesia as the company makes a play for greater international market share.
The Honda MPPe: is a Gogoro-style swappable motorbike battery that even comes with its own Gogoro-style battery cabinet known as the Honda Power Pack Exchanger e: (HPPEe:).
Honda has been dragging its feet on electric vehicles for years, not just in cars but also in its motorcycle division.
The swappable battery system developed by Honda has been around for several years but hasn’t gotten much use outside of a few local Japanese trials until recently. After developing a swappable battery consortium along with Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki, it appears Honda is attempting to position its own battery as a competing standard.
We’ve seen the company attempt to push that battery into Europe in the Honda EM1 electric scooter, and now Honda is setting its sights on Indonesia.
Indonesia has a large population numbering 275 million, with most Indonesian households using a motorbike to commute.
Electric vehicles are still a tiny percentage of that market, but more options are helping Indonesians boost those EV numbers. Now Honda wants to get some skin in that game as it brings its EM1 electric motorbike to Indonesia.
Honda appears to be offering its EM1 for sale in Indonesia either with or without the batteries, presumably meaning that the sans battery package would rely on battery swapping subscriptions.
Without a battery, the EM1 is priced at around US $2,600, while the package with batteries included is price at closer to US $2,930.
Honda’s battery swapping cabinets appear to work similarly to Gogoro’s, except that they don’t automatically recognize the user and scooter simply by reading information stored in the batteries. Instead, users will need to swipe a membership card in order to activate the station and swap batteries.
Electrek’s Take
It’s great to see Honda finally taking electric motorbikes more seriously, though I’m not sure how many “standards” for swappable batteries are necessary.
I get that entrusting a single company with managing and profiting from a battery standard has its downsides, but so does having 10 different types of swappable batteries out there. Honda is obviously in its very early stages, and seems to just be copying Gogoro by entering each country that Gogoro establishes itself in. If Gogoro is coming up on half a billion battery swaps under its belt with nearly half a million battery swaps per day, then it seems like they’ve pretty much got this figured out while other companies are still testing the waters.
A number of companies even build their scooters to fit Gogoro’s batteries (including Yamaha, one of the companies that joined Honda’s battery consortium), so it feels like the industry is already starting to choose a winner here.
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Environment
Chevron earnings beat Wall Street estimates as oil production hits record boosted by Hess acquisition
California’s ambitious statewide electric bicycle incentive program is officially dead – and it didn’t even get a funeral. After years of buildup, delays, and surging public interest, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has quietly ended the program, rolling the remaining $17 million of the original $30 million budget into its “Clean Cars 4 All” initiative without even making an official announcement.
The California E-Bike Incentive Project was originally hailed as a groundbreaking effort to make electric bikes affordable for low-income residents. Vouchers – not rebates – were designed to let buyers walk into a participating shop and ride out without covering the full price upfront. Base vouchers were worth $1,000, with up to $2,500 available for those purchasing cargo or adaptive e-bikes in priority communities. It was a model that other states were watching closely.
But from the outset, the program was plagued by setbacks. Years of delays meant the first vouchers weren’t distributed until late 2024, and even then, only after a chaotic launch that saw the website crash under the weight of tens of thousands of applicants vying for just 1,500 vouchers. A second launch attempt in April 2025 failed completely, locking out eligible users. While a final distribution round in May went more smoothly, an estimated 90% of eligible applicants were turned away due to limited supply.
To make matters worse, the program’s administrator, Pedal Ahead, came under fire for questionable practices in San Diego, further undermining confidence.
Now, with no formal announcement or update on the program’s official website, CARB has quietly absorbed the funds into its Clean Cars 4 All program.
Electrek’s Take
This is an enormous letdown.
The California E-Bike Incentive Project had the potential to reshape car-heavy communities by giving low-income Californians access to clean, affordable micromobility. Instead, it was starved by mismanagement and then cannibalized to prop up car-centric policy.
It’s not that electric cars don’t deserve support, but this move reflects a broader failure of imagination. If we want a future with fewer cars, not just cleaner ones, then we need to start funding real alternatives. This was a huge missed opportunity to invest in a more livable California.
via: Streetsblog
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