There are thousands of models of electric mobility vehicles driving around the world’s cities today, ranging from e-bikes to e-motorcycles and electric microcars. But a major frustration in the industry is that those thousands of different models still use hundreds of unique battery standards. Now a fresh mobility startup, Bingo, says they have the solution: a new battery standard.
The company claims to have been operating its “one battery, any vehicle” fleet solution for last-mile logistics and transportation in stealth mode during trials in Asia and Africa.
Now the company says they’ll debut their solution at the Milan Motorcycle Show (EICMA) next week, marking their entry into the European market.
Bingo’s solution is built around a 2 kWh battery pack with built-in GPS and 4G connectivity. The idea is that one or more of the batteries can be used to power a number of different electric vehicles from scooters and motorbikes to electric microcars.
When the batteries are depleted, they can be swapped out for freshly charged batteries at a swapping cabinet. The concept seems similar to Gogoro, the current leading standard in swappable batteries, but with a somewhat less sophisticated cabinet design that requires more manual manipulations during the swapping process.
The rest of the concept is similar in execution, encouraging third party vehicle manufacturers to build their products to fit Bingo’s new battery standard.
Bingo claims to already have several two, three, and four-wheeled electric vehicles on board, including the electric microcar E1.
“This lightweight, four-wheel, four-seat passenger car falls under Europe’s L7e classification, just like the popular Citroen Ami,” explained the company. “Whether customers are carrying pizzas, packages or people, Bingo has an option to suit.”
So far, the company appears to be targeting mainly commercial operators who could benefit from the battery-swapping technology and convenience of a single battery standard shared across multiple platforms.
“Bingo customers include last-mile logistics companies and ride-hail operators who want to realize the benefits of transitioning to electrified fleets; existing businesses that want to diversify income by adding last-mile delivery capacity; and start-ups attracted by the unique prospects offered by Bingo’s platform.”
We’ll be at EICMA next week and will take a look at Bingo’s display to see the company’s technology. The concept certainly sounds interesting, but it’s not exactly the first time a new standard has attempted to solve the problem.
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