Founded in 1963 after splitting from Honda, KYMCO or Kwang Yang Motor Co, Ltd is a Taiwanese company that manufactures motor scooters, motorcycles, and ATVs for worldwide distribution. Known for its scooters majorly, KYMCO showcased a new breed of electric scooter platform at the recently concluded Tokyo International Motor Show.

Addressing the current issues faced by all electric two-wheelers, KYMCO has launched the Ionex Many EV that goes with their idea of modern support systems that include upgrading the infrastructure and battery management solutions. This eco-system will sustain the possibilities of having swappable battery management solutions that enhance the range and practicality of owning an electric scooter.

KYMCO built its first complete scooter in 1970, and by the end of 2000, it became the largest scooter manufacturer in Taiwan, and the fifth largest scooter manufacturer worldwide. With such history in its arsenal, it wasn’t a surprise when the firm put up the Ionex on the center stage at the Tokyo Show.

With this scooter, the brand showcases great potential in electrical alternatives provided there is a better-connected infrastructure network to back it up. The scooter itself hides a major part of this eco-system which are the batteries. The Ionex sees one core battery and two removable batteries.

While the core battery always powers the scooter, the swappable batteries add as an additional source of power that supplies the core battery with an uninterrupted surge of energy. The two swappable batteries can be easily charged at your convenience at home or office or can just be swapped with a fully charged battery at Ionex’s network of public charging docks, charge point networks, and public charge outlets.

The batteries slid into slots under the floorboards that open and retracted with the help of NFC technology making it convenient as well as safe. Each battery weighs a mere 11 pounds and with the floorboard location, allows enough room under the seat to carry three more batteries that can push the range of the scooter to well over 125 miles. If you don’t want miles, there is always more room under the seat without those batteries.

The idea of swappable batteries isn’t old. Zero also has models with such technology, but the batteries are huge and cumbersome than Kymco’s solution. Similarly, Honda also announced detachable battery units for its PCX scooters that can be swapped at “Mobile Power Pack Exchangers” for a fully charged one; but is nowhere close to providing neater placements of the batteries like KYMCO’s.

KYMCO's product line in the United States includes 15 scooters, 9 ATVs and the Venox 250 cruiser and the k-pipe 125 motorcycle. With the Ionex eco-system, KYMCO plans to sell over half a million electric vehicles in next three years globally and launch ten electric scooters and set up multiple charging networks in 20 countries with the help of local and national governments.

The Ionex will go head on with the Piaggio Electtrica. Although Piaggio took its own time to offer an electric vehicle, it is late by no means. Unveiled at the 2017 EICMA, the Electtrica is the electric version of Vespa’s Primavera scooter with a lithium-ion battery and a 4kW motor that is guaranteed to get you 62 miles on a single charge.

Reference

Piaggio Vespa Electtrica

Honda PCX