Electric Scooters to get centre stage as Twenty Two Motors and KYMCO announce partnership to share iONEX and iONEX Commercial
Electric scooters can be referred to as the closest to practical modes of commuting, but they as all others have the battery discharge and charge issue. You can use them for 50km to end up charging for 2hours. Your foods getting cold back home, your pet has done his bit in the living room, you’ve probably grown a little beard, but your charge level is still not up to reach home. Luckily the solution has arrived. One of our in-house EV manufacturers, Twenty Two Motors, has just joined hands with KYMCO from Taiwan. The result is a JV called Twenty Two KYMCO, not very creative that, which is primarily done to utilise iONEX charging tech. Yes, go to a kiosk, verify with an app on your phone and switch your drained battery for a fully charged replacement and ride away.
What does swap mean?
When you buy an electric scooter from Twenty Two KYMCO, included in the price is a core battery and an interchangeable battery. As evident core battery sits inside, and the other 5kg pack can be switched at a charging station to continue journey. Depending on the model you’ll be able to purchase and equip more battery packs to increase range to around 200km (claimed) for outer city stints. Two battery packs can be equipped under the foot board, and three more can be installed under the seat depending on the model and your ability to compromise storage space. Better still, you can simply rent battery packs and not buy them.
Okay, where do you swap them?
Still in the works, but you’ll be able to pick a charged pack from a charging station place by Twenty Two KYMCO. The company claims it should be able to install a charging touch-point per kilometre, which is a very bold claim. This is also because a tiny fast charging port can be purchased and employed by anybody who want to place it. So, small vendors, cafes, small gathering joints should be equipped with these for you to come and charge as per convenience. Sounds like a tall order, but I hope the brand does as much as they can for owner convenience. They will start expanding from the centre of the capital come 2019, and slowly filter through to NCR in phases.
The entire idea sounds very intriguing and shows how the future of these tiny electric scooters will shape personal city commute in the future. Of course there are numerous gaps to fill, will the vendors accept charging points at personal establishments, the power continuity on charging stations, individual battery health monitoring, etc. The cloud-based infrastructure too has to work efficiently to manage all requisites by customers promptly. All-in-all sounds excellent, now all they have to do is commit to provide.
