Honda is planning to extend its battery-swapping service from Asia to Europe, with a focus on two-wheeled vehicles such as mopeds and scooters.
The company currently offers battery-swapping services in Japan, India, Indonesia, and Thailand. In a press release on Tuesday, Honda announced a partnership with Swedish scooter rental startup GoCimo to test the concept in Malmö, Sweden, starting in February 2025.
Honda battery swapping
The test program will use Honda EM1 scooters already available in Europe to evaluate the feasibility of battery swapping in European urban environments.
Unlike other services that swap entire battery packs for cars and trucks, Honda’s focus is on smaller modules. The Honda Mobile Power Pack modules are approximately 1.5 kWh each, suitable for scooters or small urban EVs if used in multiples. This approach is more powerful than what’s offered with the Motocompacto intended for 2024 Honda Prologue EVs in the U.S.
Honda battery swapping
The modules are charged on a rack, and users can easily check them out as needed. This system allows urban residents to forgo home charging, making it a practical solution in European cities with limited streetside charging options. Honda will provide 30 EM1 scooters, 60 Mobile Power Pack batteries, and three Power Pack Exchanger swap stations to GoCimo for the test program in Sweden’s third-largest city.
Honda has been showcasing swappable-battery systems similar to this since CES 2018 and has hinted at their potential use in motorcycles as part of a consortium with Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha. The company has confirmed that the Mobile Power Pack format will be integrated into various electric products.