Battery swapping is believed to be an effective solution for increasing the functionality of electric motorbikes. Is that right?
The population of electric motorbikes in Indonesia is slowly starting to increase rapidly. The rate of uptake by consumers is much faster than electric cars.
Based on data from the Ministry of Industry, the population of electric motorbikes has reached 62,815 units. On the other hand, new electric cars were at 18,300 units.
Of course, this happens because the price of electric motorbikes is much more affordable than electric cars. Currently, the choice of electric motorbikes available has varying prices. There are a lot of electric motorbikes under IDR 10 million. Likewise those with prices above IDR 20 million.
In terms of use, electric motorbikes actually have high mobility. It is not surprising that many electric motorbike users want a way to charge electric motorbike batteries that better supports their activities. One of them is the Swap Battery or battery exchange system.
Patrick Atmadja, Deputy General Chair for Technical Affairs of the Electric Mobility Ecosystem Association (AEML) said that currently the number of Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (SPKLU) has reached 900 units. Likewise with the Public Electric Vehicle Battery Exchange Station (SPBKLU) which has actually reached 1,300 units.
“The government is targeting as many as 30,000 SPKLU to be present in Indonesia. Likewise with SPBKLU which is expected to reach 65,000-70,000 units,” he explained.
It’s just that according to Patrick Atmadja, the Swap Battery method needs to be regulated properly. The reason is that currently every electric motorbike has a different battery design.
This condition makes battery exchange not easy. Like it or not, electric motorbike owners have to look for a swap station that suits the battery they have.
“The dimensions and weight need to be regulated. So the maximum weight is 12 kilograms so that ordinary people can lift the battery and put it in the battery exchange cabinet easily,” he explained.
The same opinion was also expressed by Mohammad Masykur, Product Strategy from Ilectra Motor Group, ALVA electric motorbike manufacturer. He admitted that his party had conducted a survey regarding Swap Battery among electric motorbike users.
“Especially online motorcycle taxis that have been using electric motorbikes for a long time and at a high level,” he said.
The result, according to him, is that electric motorbike users always have difficulty swapping batteries. They have to compete with other online motorcycle taxis that also need to exchange batteries.
“Sometimes if you can exchange it, the battery is not 100 percent full. On average it is only 60 percent full. So it also has an impact on them when they are used,” said Mohammad Masykur.
This is why ALVA has not yet implemented the Swap Battery system. Two ALVA electric motorbikes, namely One and Cervo, are equipped with two batteries that can support the mobility of electric motorbike owners.
“We really hope that in the future the Swap Station and standardization will be ready so that it is better for the current electric motorbikes,” he explained.
