Vitesco Technologies joins swappable batteries motorcycle consortium

Vitesco Technologies enters the consortium with the focus of standardizing and industrializing battery management systems.

Vitesco Technologies, an innovative international manufacturer of modern drive technologies and electrification solutions, has joined the Swappable Batteries Motorcycle Consortium (SBMC).

The Consortium was established in March 2021 by four global players in two-wheeler manufacturing – Honda, KTM, Piaggio, and Yamaha – and grew to 21 members. They include the Piaggio Group, KTM, Suzuki, Polari, Foresee Power, HYBA, Five, Hioki, NiU, Sinbon, Swobbee, Roki and Sumitomo Electric.

The Consortium aims to:
– Develop common technical specifications of the swappable battery systems.
– Confirm common usage of the battery systems.
– Make and promote the Consortium’s common specifications towards standardization within European and International standardization bodies for interoperability, compatibility, and harmonization of the systems.
– Expand the use of the Consortium’s common specification to global level.

The SBMC calls upon the leverage of standardization to accelerate the electrification of the L-Category vehicle segment at global level and promote more sustainable battery lifecycle management. This will make electric vehicle batteries more economical, help preserve resources and – more importantly – make them more convenient for customers.

“As in the passenger car sector, Vitesco Technologies aims to become a leading provider of electrification solutions in the market of two-wheelers,” says Torsten Bellon, head of non-automotive product line at Vitesco Technologies. “By joining the Swappable Batteries Motorcycle Consortium, we want to help create the conditions for light motorcycles and scooters to continue to play a central role in future mobility. We focus on a wide range of different e-vehicles such as mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers. The main goal of our SBMC activities is to set standards for future battery management systems and to consistently industrialize them.”

Vitesco Technologies has two decades of experience in the two-wheeler segment and can build on existing solutions from the automotive sector in its efforts to develop electrified drive technologies. Among its technologies featured at the EICMA 2021 – the world’s most important motorcycle trade show – the company presented a system solution for 48-volt two-wheel electric vehicles that includes a compact electric motor equipped with Vitesco Technologies high performance inductive Rotor Position Sensor (iRPS) and the electric Drive Control Unit (eDCU) an integrated controller providing inverter and additional vehicle functions.