Honda Motor today announced plans to begin a battery sharing service for electric tricycle taxis (so-called “rickshaws”) in India, in the first half of 2022, using the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: (“MPP e:”), Honda’s all-new portable and swappable batteries. Honda’s battery sharing service will enable rickshaw drivers to stop by at the nearest battery swapping stations being set up in the city and swap a MPP e: with a low remaining charge for a fully-charged MPP e:.
There are more than 8 million units of auto rickshaws in India, and they have been an essential means of daily transportation for people. In consideration of this new business, Honda began demonstration testing in India in February 2021, with 30 units of electric rickshaw taxis driven for a total of more than 200,000 km in operation. Through this testing, Honda identified issues to be addressed and verified business viability.
Electrified mobility products currently available in the market are facing three issues: short range, long charging time and high cost of batteries. In order to contribute to India’s effort to accelerate electrification and expand the use of renewable energy, Honda will work to eliminate these three issues through the use of swappable batteries and by sharing such batteries. To this end, Honda will start a battery sharing service for electric rickshaws, using MPP e: in the first half of 2022.
