Local firm drops plan to offer e-motorbike battery swop service

Mo Batteries cites high costs, complexity of setting up business as reasons to end project

- Lee Nian Tjoe

The Republic's plan to lower carbon emissions through electrification has hit a road bump as one of the two companies trialling battery swopping technology for electric motorcycles is shelving plans to make it available commercially.

Due to high costs and the complexity of setting up the business to be commercially viable, Mo Batteries will not proceed to launch a battery swopping service for electric motorcycles in 2024 as planned. This comes after a year of testing under a Land Transport Authority (LTA) scheme, The Sunday Times has learnt.

In July 2023, five months after it started the trial, Mo Batteries told ST it was expecting to start commercial operations by the first half of 2024, after the end of the trial.

The company, which is based in Singapore, was the first of two to test battery swopping for electric motorcycles, starting in February 2023. Taiwanese company Gogoro started its test in March 2023.

The special permissions came after the national electric vehicle (EV) charging standards were updated in 2022 to include battery swopping for motorcycles. This makes it possible for companies to operate such services commercially when they fulfil all requirements.

Gogoro has extended the trial by six months and is slated to exit the sandbox by September, LTA said.

"They are currently on track to obtain type approval for their chargers," the authority added. This would allow the chargers to be used commercially.

By the end of Mo Batteries' trial in February, its fleet of six electric motorcycles covered 12,000km and completed 400 battery swops.

The motorbikes can travel between 90km and 120km before each battery change.

The company got a few fleet vehicle users to use the electric motorcycles for two to three months each to get their feedback and test whether the battery swopping solution was able to fit their specific needs.