KTM Signs a Letter Of Intent With HONDA, YAMAHA MOTOR, And PIAGGIO To Establish a ‘Swappable Battery Consortium’ for Electric Motorcycles

In A press Release by KTM, the 4 companies announce they will establish a more standardized specification for a swappable battery network.

In a press release today by KTM, the company announced their letter of intent, signed with 3 major companies in the space. Honda, Yamaha Motor and Piaggo will all come together with KTM to establish standardized specifications for a swappable battery system, that could help overcoming obstacles like range, charging time, and initial costs.

With the return of United-States to the Paris Climate Agreement, there is a great tailwind for electric drive, and the development of electric mobility. The consortium believes that the availability of a standardized swappable battery system would help promote the widespread use of light electric vehicles and help achieve a more sustainable life-cycle management of batteries.

As we have seen, KTM was one of the early adopters for electric drive, with their SX-E 5. Honda has been showing some interesting patents but has not fully uncovered their first model. From our recent article on Yamaha, we learned their project in Europe is making great progress on late testing stages before hitting the track for the first time. Piaggo and their Vespa Elettrica, presented at the EICMA show in 2019.

The companies will define a standardized technical specifications of the swappable battery system for vehicles belonging to the L-category: mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles. This will be done by working with interested stakeholders and National, European and International standardization bodies, the founding members of the Consortium will be involved in the creation of international technical standards.

The four companies, KTM, Honda, Yamaha and Piaggo are huge leaders for motorcycle fans worldwide, and now with the shift to green mobility, they call upon more companies to join them as stakeholders and cooperate to enrich the expertise for the consortium. The Consortium will start its activity in May 2021.

Sustainability is one of the key drivers to the future of mobility and electrification will play a major role in achieving this goal. For powered two-wheelers the constraints of electric drivetrains regarding range, charging time and initial cost are still evident. To overcome these challenges and provide a better customer experience, a swappable battery system based on international technical standards will become a viable solution. Considering the entire lifecycle, a widespread application of batteries compliant with a common standard will support secondary use as well as circular economy. We are glad to be part of the Consortium as we strive towards our goals in the e-mobility sector.”

Stefan Pierer, KTM AG CEO

Source: KTM