While electricity is, for the time being, the 'fuel' of the future, a lot of work has still to be done to make it viable and to accommodate the surge in numbers expected. The charging infrastructure is massively insufficient at present and charging times and range are two barriers to common acceptance. Four motorcycle manufacturers are coming together to develop replaceable battery technology, making charging times a thing of the past.

The world of transport is going electric, let’s have no argument about that. Whether you like it or not, at some point in the not-too-distant future, we will not be allowed to buy vehicles powered by an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). The UK has announced that, as of 2030, new ICE-powered vehicles will be outlawed and many European countries are saying the same. That doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to drive your 2029 car around until it dies of old age, but expect the penalties for doing so to be severe.

It's inevitable; but are we ready?

So, electricity is inevitable but, right now, it is not a reassuring prospect if we look at the existing charging infrastructure that is available even in first world countries. Of course, that will improve exponentially as the technology is developed and 2030 looms ever closer but for the time being it’s not there.

Another aspect to consider is charging times. These will plummet for the same reasons stated above regarding infrastructure but for now, the prospect of killing half an hour (at least) while your vehicle charges its batteries makes a mockery of long distance journeys.

Another problem is that, especially in large cities, people don’t necessarily have access to a garage or, even, off road parking where an electric bike can be safely charged overnight.

3Lots of negatives, but are there any positives? 33}

Despite these drawbacks, electric bikes are an increasingly convincing transport solution, not just for urban mobility but, given the characteristics of electric motors - instant and prodigious torque and acceleration - also for high-end sports machines.

But isn’t there an alternative to plugging in a lead and waiting? Perhaps not for cars, whose battery packs are necessarily very large but, for motorcycles, how difficult would it be to simply lift one battery out and slot another one in in mere seconds?

Ah, I hear you say, that’s never going to work. How will it be possible to have batteries to fit every different motorcycle at every station? And you’d be right but what if manufacturers got together and came up with a universal standard battery that could fit any bike? A sort of AA battery but for bikes.

3A practical solution33}

Normally, that would be as unthinkable as any of the manufacturers handing over all their plans for future motorcycles to their rivals. But these are not normal times and to emphasise this, Honda, KTM, PIaggio and Yamaha are joining forces to form the Electric Battery Consortium, an alliance to develop standardised swappable batteries.

It’s not a new idea. Tesla wanted to create a network of automated stations that would perform a battery swap but the idea failed to get off the ground due to the size of the batteries and the different shapes for each vehicle (even from one manufacturer).

But the idea has taken off to certain extent in bicycles. In Taiwan, electric scooter company Gogoro has a network of 2,000 stations where you simply swap your exhausted battery for a fully charged one. Yamaha based its own EC-05 on the Gogoro design and Honda has introduced a similar system for its PCX electric scooter. Piaggio’s Vespa Elettrica and KTM’s E-Ride also use swappable battery technology.

By no coincidence whatsoever, these are the four companies that have banded together to standardise the battery packs. It’s an unprecedented collaboration but it’s all about making electric bikes a more attractive and practical proposition and not simply from a convenience point of view.

Range anxiety is a large barrier to electric vehicle acceptance but what if that could be eliminated? It would be relatively simple to set up battery swap points at existing filling stations meaning that fully charged batteries are always available, getting rid of that anxiety.

3The benefits to interchangeable batteries are huge33}

The benefits just keep on rolling in. The battery packs could be smaller as they wouldn’t be expected to give such long range. That means the bikes could be lighter, so the range would increase! The batteries would have to be lighter to allow for handling by anyone, which would aid handling of the bike and permit more luggage space.

At the moment, battery technology is advancing with incredible speed. Having a replaceable battery in your motorcycle means that it won’t be left behind by such advances; the new tech can be incorporated into the existing packaging, effectively giving you free upgrades in terms of performance and range.

Think about this, as well; you are not limited to only one battery. A moped might use one battery, while a sports bike or tourer could use three or four, giving better performance and/or range. One more possible advantage is that you could buy a new bike without its batteries if you already had a bike with batteries that were interchangeable; less cost from new right there.

KTM CEO, Stefan Pierer said, ‘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 better customer experience, a swappable battery system based on international technical standards will become a viable solution.’

We have all been very quick to lament the rise of the electric motorcycle but maybe we have been too hasty? If the rate of development continues then it is likely that electric bikes will lose nothing to their petrol-powered ancestors. If they can solve the lack-of-noise issue, then we’re off to the races!