If you haven’t considered battery swapping as the future of electric motorbikes, then the last few days should give you reason to consider. With companies like Gogoro leading the way and KYMCO hot on their heels, now Vammo is launching its own battery-swapping stations for electric motorcycles.
If you haven’t heard of Vammo before, then you’re probably not alone. Not only did the company recently change its name (formerly Leoparda), but they’ve also started by focusing on an underserved part of the world when it comes to battery-swapping motorcycles: South America.
The startup isn’t brand-new though, they’ve already got the experience of over 75,000 battery swaps under their belt since last December. Those were performed in manual battery-swap stations that required a Vammo representative, but now the company is launching its new self-service stations developed to significantly expand its operations.
Vammo doesn’t develop its own electric motorbikes like Gogoro, but instead partners with existing motorcycle manufacturers to operate a swapping-as-a-service model. For now, the service is available to Vammo’s customers who ride on a wide spectrum of motorcycle models and types, such as the VS2 or VS1 from VMoto SuperSoco. Vammo’s battery-swap stations have been specifically developed to work with various battery types, sizes, and power levels.
That service is particularly useful for delivery riders and motorbike taxis who use their two-wheelers for all-day shifts. With that many kilometers on the road, the massive cost benefits of electric motorbikes stack up even quicker. But ensuring the bikes can ride all day means having freshly charged batteries ready to swap out whenever necessary.
The process takes less than two minutes at Vammo’s new battery stations, or around the same amount of time as a typical fuel fill-up. Riders pull up to the battery swapping cabinets and load in a depleted battery to receive a freshly charged pack.
So far the company has operated the first station for a month in a pilot program, seeing around 75 swaps per day at its São Paolo location. The ultimate goal is to increase to 500 stations across Brazil before expanding to other South American cities. Starting in Brazil is particularly compelling since the country’s electric grid is served by around 90% renewable energy generation.
As Vammo CEO Jack Sarvary explained:
The autonomy of electric vehicles has always been one of the reasons that have slowed down the mass adoption of this type of vehicle, but our swap stations will overcome this challenge and encourage the use of electric bikes. We are committed to promoting electrification in Latin America in a way that makes sense for consumers financially, with convenience and safety. We deeply believe it will be the key turning point to popularize electric mobility in the region.
Interestingly, the cabinets are designed with variable charging rates that can respond to current battery demand.
Vammo’s director of hardware engineering Jeff Inhofer explained how that works:
We can choose the pace of recharging according to the demand for batteries. If a location has a higher demand, we can accelerate battery charging in each compartment individually. A three-hour recharge is ideal, but we can do it in less than 45 minutes if we want to.
Inhofer, who previously led development for the V3 Supercharger at Tesla, added that the current prototype testing period will help the company refine those systems:
These prototypes will be used to ensure we have all the features needed for a safe and easy swapping experience. Testing them on the streets of Brazil allows us to make last-minute changes or improvements before we start going into mass production.
Electrek’s Take
Sign me up! Like, literally. I’d use this service in a heartbeat. Heck, I want to try one of these Vammo swaps.
In fact, I already use battery swapping in my daily life. I own a Gogoro electric scooter and I swap batteries roughly once a week. In the first 1,500 km (nearly 1,000 miles) I’ve put on the scooter, I haven’t charged it once. I just swap batteries in a few seconds at one of a dozen stations around town and continue on my way. The scooter does highway speeds, takes me everywhere I need to go, and is my main source of transportation.
And that’s exactly what Vammo is doing for Brazil, a country that hasn’t yet benefitted from the expansion of Asia’s leading battery swapping companies. Vammo also has its work cut out for it since South American electric motorcycle users often prefer higher-power rides with bigger batteries that are able to go farther and faster in more spread out communities. That means Vammo’s stations have had to account for that, and it looks like they have based on the massive doors on these battery cabinets. My Gogoro batteries are relatively small in comparison, so Vammo is definitely having to react to a different local motorcycle culture and its unique needs.
The process doesn’t look quite as slick as Gogoro’s “drop it in” stations, since it appears you still have to plug and unplug the battery yourself. But at least it’s something that the rider can do by themselves instead of needing an employee to perform any part of the battery swap.
This is definitely an exciting one to keep an eye on. I’ll be following Vammo closely to see if they can do for South America what Gogoro is doing in Asia.
Oh, and if one of these freakin’ companies wants to finally bring battery swapping to the laggards in North America and Europe, that’d be mighty appreciated! Bunch of cavemen having to slow charge our bikes over here…. grumble grumble.
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