Check out Honda’s swappable battery stations for electric motorbikes, hoping to go global
Honda’s swappable battery packs, known as the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: (MPPe:), are soon getting their own Gogoro-style battery swapping stations for recharging.
The station will be known as the Honda Power Pack Exchanger e: (HPPEe:), just in case we needed another long acronym.
It features a number of battery slots that would allow electric scooter and motorbike riders to pop in their nearly depleted batteries and slide out a freshly charged MPPe: battery.
The stations have been delivered to Gachaco, the battery pack swapping company we first reported on earlier this year, and which was jointly-formed by Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki.
Those motorcycle makers, collectively known as the Big Four in Japan, led the founding of a consortium to develop a universal standard for swappable batteries used in electric motorbikes. Ultimately though, it appears they’ve all just decided to use Honda’s batteries as the standard.
The first HPPEe: station will apparently be installed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for use in Japan’s capital city.
Additional stations have been prepared for use in India, where Honda is expanding its operations and is expected to roll out a new electric moped soon.
Some electric rickshaws in India, which are popular forms of transportation in big cities, already use Honda’s MPPe: batteries and make use of these swap stations, seen below.
It’s not clear exactly where else Honda expects to deploy its battery swapping stations, but the company obviously has big plans. They described the system as “battery infrastructure that can be widely used both in Japan and overseas.”
If you’re thinking that the HPPEe: battery swapping stations look familiar, that’s because they do. The design appears to be largely based off of battery swapping giant Gogoro’s GoStations, which first debuted in Taiwan in 2015 and now number in the thousands covering the entire island nation.
Gogoro sees around 350,000 battery swaps per day across its extensive network in Taiwan, with a total of over 350 million battery swaps since it began operations.
Its stations are also designed to maintain operation during massive power outages, and can even supply the stored energy from their batteries back into the grid to power critical local infrastructure such as hospitals.
Gogoro mainly operates its battery swapping network in Taiwan, but has begun expanding internationally across Asia and recently launched its first western expansion in Israel, where riders can now buy Gogoro’s electric scooters and subscribe to the battery swapping network.
Unlike Gogoro’s system, where the smart batteries store the rider’s information and thus don’t require a membership card to use a swap station, Honda’s HPPEe: stations will require riders to first enter their details into a swap station before being able to access the batteries.
Gogoro’s system only requires depositing the batteries then waiting a few seconds for the station to pop out two freshly charged packs. That quick process is enabled by a smart connection in the battery packs that automatically identifies the scooter and thus the rider’s membership.
I recently had the chance to test out Gogoro’s battery swap stations in Tel Aviv, which you can see in the short clip below.
Other Gogoro-inspired battery swap stations have also popped up recently, including a similar looking entry from fellow Taiwanese motorbike maker KYMCO.
In contracts, many companies have eschewed battery swapping due to the heavy investment required to build up a massive network of swap stations. Large removable batteries are becoming increasingly popular among electric scooter and lightweight electric motorcycle companies. Silence, a Barcelona-based electric motorbike company, makes trolley-style batteries that drop out of the scooter and use a luggage-style handle to wheel them around on their built-in rollers.
Ryvid, an electric motorcycle startup from California, also has a novel wheeled battery pack that helps riders haul the 65 lb. (30 kg) battery inside for charging off of the bike.
Could battery swapping like Honda’s HPPEe: system take off? Or will removable batteries that riders can charge at home win out? Let’s hear your opinion in the comments section below.
via: Rideapart; h/t: Natalie Weiss
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Environment
Baidu- and Geely-backed JiYue brand unveils ROBO X EV that goes 0-100 km/h in under 1.9 sec
JiYue, a Chinese EV brand focused on delivering all-electric “robocars” to the masses, has unveiled its latest model, and it’s quite a deviation from its previous EVs—but in the best way. Earlier today, JiYue launched the ROBO X supercar, designed for high-speed racing. By high speed, we mean 0-100 km/h acceleration in under 1.9 seconds. My mouth is watering.
JiYue has only existed since 2021, when parent tech company Baidu announced it was expanding from software development into physical EV production, joining forces with multinational automotive manufacturer Geely.
The new “robotic EV” marque initially launched as JIDU with $300 million in startup capital before garnering an additional $400 million in Series A funding, led by Baidu, in January 2022.
In August 2023, Geely took on a larger role in JIDU alongside a greater financial stake as the brand reimagined itself as JiYue, inheriting the JIDU logo and its flagship model, the 01 ROBOCAR.
In December 2023, Baidu and Geely unveiled a second model called the JiYue 07. It was born from JIDU’s ROBO-02 concept, which debuted in 2023 and was designed to compete against the Tesla Model 3 in China.
The 07 finally launched in China earlier this year with 545 miles of range. With an all-electric SUV and sedan on the market, JiYue has unveiled an exciting new entry in the form of a performance supercar called the ROBO X. Check it out:
JiYue’s new ROBO X EV is available for pre-order now
JiYue showcased its new ROBO X hypercar in front of the crowd at the 2024 Guangzhou Auto Show earlier today. Similar to previous models but with a unique spin, JiYue described the ROBO X as an AI smart-driving supercar that, for the first time, blends artificial intelligence and autonomous driving into a high-performance, race-ready EV.
When we say “high performance,” we mean a quad motor liquid-cooled drive system that can propel the ROBO X from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in under 1.9 seconds. JiYue called the new ROBO X a “performance beast” with “the perfect balance of excellent aerodynamic performance and high downforce.” JiYue CEO Joe Xia was even bolder in his statements about the ROBO X:
For the next 20 years, the design of supercars will bear the shadow of Robo X. This is the best design in the history of Chinese automobiles today, and it is a landmark presence.
Fighter-style airflow ducts bolster the EV’s aerodynamics, efficiency, and overall posture. Per JiYue, the two-seater ROBO X is expected to deliver a maximum range of over 650 km (404 miles).
The new supercar features falcon-wing doors, a carbon fiber integrated frame, and a professional racing HALO safety system offering 360° of support. The interior features an AI smart cockpit with SIMO real-time feedback to give drivers an immersive racing experience.
Furthermore, JiYue said the vehicle will utilize parent company Baidu’s Apollo self-driving technology, which could make it the first electric supercar to apply pure-vision ADAS technology that enables track-level autonomous driving.
Following today’s unveiling of the ROBO X, JiYue has officially opened up pre-orders in China for RMB 49,999 ($6,915). That said, reservation holders will need to be patient as JiYue shared that it doesn’t expect to begin mass production of the ROBO X until 2027.
What do you think? Will people be talking about the ROBO X for the next 20 years?
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This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes the launch of the Lectric XPedition 2.0, Yamaha e-bikes pulling out of North America, LiveWire unveils an electric scooter concept, PNY readying its cargo e-scooters for pilot testing, Royal Enfield’s first electric motorcycle, and more.
The Wheel-E podcast returns every two weeks on Electrek’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
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Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the Wheel-E podcast today:
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Crude oil futures were on pace Friday for loss for the week, as a supply gut and a strong dollar depresses the market.
U.S. crude oil is down more than 2% this week, while Brent has shed nearly 2%.
Here are Friday’s energy prices:
- West Texas Intermediate December contract: $68.56 per barrel, down 14 cents, or 0.2%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil has shed about 4%.
- Brent January contract: $72.36 per barrel, down 20 cents, or 0.28%. Year to date, the global benchmark has lost nearly 6%.
- RBOB Gasoline December contract: $1.99 per gallon, up 0.46%. Year to date, gasoline has fallen more than 1%.
- Natural Gas December contract: $2.70 per thousand cubic feet, down 2.98%. Year to date, gas has gained more than 4%.
The International Energy Agency has forecast a surplus of more than 1 million barrels per day in 2025 on robust production in the U.S. OPEC revised down its demand forecast for the fourth consecutive month as demand in China remains soft.
A strong dollar also hangs over the market, as the greenback has surged in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory.
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