Battery Swapping Technology for Electric Motorcycles

The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is an accelerating global trend. Currently, the adoption of EVs is mainly in the segments of cars and public buses. Since the motorcycle is the most common personal vehicle in Southeast Asia, it remains an important challenge and business opportunity to enable widespread electrification of motorcycles.

Different from four-wheel EVs, smaller electric motorcycles are not economically suited for plug-in charging infrastructure. The compact size of motorcycle batteries enables a new form of charging called battery swapping. Battery swapping allows users to manually replace a depleted battery with a fully charged one at swapping station, which can be much faster and more convenient than conventional plug-in recharging.

The technology owner has in-house capability to allow the technology to be easily customised to meet specific design and deployment requirements, and is keen to do R&D collaboration with partners who design and develop electric motorcycles.

The technology owner has developed a full technology suit for battery swapping, consisting of the following modules:

1. Battery Swapping Stations

• Customisable battery station size, ranging from 3 to 15 battery slots per station
• Customisable battery slot dimensions, according to specific battery shape
• Customisable battery communication interface, supporting CAN, UART, and others
• Individual CC-CV charging for each battery, compatible with nominal voltage range of 40V-84V
• Optional touch screen interface
• Connectivity: LAN, WiFi, 4G, or offline
• Authentication options: via mobile app, via QR code, via RFID tag

2. Front-end Mobile User App

• Ready app for iOS and Android
• Home screen with a map showing all station locations
• User authentication for swapping a battery at the station
• Integrated payment (3rd party service provider)
• Screen with usage statics: last battery swap, swaps per month, electricity consumed, etc.

3. Back-end Software Server

• Back-end server for swap stations and mobile app via API
• Secure user data storage
• Administration panel

This technology can be implemented in the following:

• Electric motorcycle companies looking to expand service offerings
• Utility or grid companies looking to add on swapping service at charging stations
• Energy retailers looking to expand into EV charging solutions
• Delivery and logistics companies looking to use electric motorcycles
• New ventures looking to start a battery swapping service in other countries

Currently over 80% of households in South & Southeast Asia own a petrol motorcycle. It is estimated that by 2030 every second new motorcycle sold could be electric. With increasing adoption of electric motorcycles, there will be an increasing demand for battery swapping technology.

• Charging infrastructure specially designed for motorcycles
• Faster "recharging" than plug-in charging and even refuelling
• Cost-effective in the long run
• Environmentally friendly

The technology owner offers a ready-to-use and highly customisable technology suit, including mechanical designs, electronic circuitry, microcontroller firmware, and software source code. All software has been coded in-house, without any commercial third-party libraries.

The technology owner has in-house capability to allow the technology to be easily customised to meet specific design and deployment requirements, and is keen to do R&D collaboration with partners who design and develop electric motorcycles.