Four major players in the motorcycle industry have joined forces when it comes to electric motorcycles, as Honda, Piaggio, KTM, and Yamaha have signed a letter of intent to create a consortium on swappable battery bikes for motorcycles and light vehicles.
The move is a big one for the transportation sector, and comes as a direct result of the growing demands for EV vehicles in Europe, driven primarily by the Paris Climate Agreement.
The hope of the consortium is to standardize rechargeable battery packs for electric vehicles, which would in creating uniform battery pack designs between makes and models, which in turn would help with the proliferation of electric light vehicles.
The efforts of the consortium would also create a more sustainable life cycle management of batteries used in the transport sector.
While this consortium was founded by these four motorcycle companies, there is hope that other interested brands and parties will join the consortium, and help standardize battery pack design across the industry.
With this news though, we get a glimpse into which brands are thinking about an electric future, and which are not taking a move to electric two-wheelers quite as seriously.
Of note, if these four brands are able to move quickly and efficiently, they could have the effect of setting the standard for other brands.
Whether other brands like it or not, as a large adoption rate of this coming standard will make it impossible for other designs to be successful and proliferate in the market, which could make things interesting for the brands who are late to market with EVs.
Source: Honda, Piaggio, KTM, & Yamaha
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