It looks like Taiwanese motorbike maker KYMCO is ready to take its battery-swapping IONEX electric scooter platform global, starting with Thailand. The news comes to us in the form of a recently announced Thai partnership set up around the company’s battery-swapping system.
Just a few hours ago, the Thai company Arun Plus filed a notice with The Stock Exchange of Thailand announcing that it had entered into a joint venture with KYMCO to create Aionex Company Limited.
According to the filing, “Aionex’s vision aims to be a leader of two-wheeler electric vehicles in Thailand and ASEAN, which includes not only to sale and production of two-wheeler electric vehicles, but also to provide battery swapping service.”
KYMCO’s IONEX battery swapping platform is the key to its electric scooter program, providing small lithium batteries that can be removed from the scooters and recharged in a cabinet-style charging station. Riders can swap a freshly charged battery in its place, allowing them to ride off without waiting for the depleted battery to recharge.
The agreement doesn’t indicate exactly when the joint venture could begin production and operation of KYMCO’s electric scooters or battery swapping stations in Thailand but says that it would likely begin sometime this year.
The filing also reveals that the new joint venture will have a market cap of 600 million baht (approximately US $17 million).
The news follows KYMCO’s own announcement last month that it was investing approximately US $142 million in its IONEX electric scooter and battery swapping.
We’ve known that the company has eyed the European market for its electric scooters, but the Asian market in ASEAN block countries would consist of a much larger rider base.
The company is also working on developing a pair of high-power electric motorcycles, the SuperNEX and RevoNEX. We last saw two prototypes for the sporty bikes at EICMA 2022, where KYMCO has regularly made large announcements regarding its electric two-wheeler programs.
Electrek’s Take
This is a very interesting development because it shows that KYMCO is set on putting up a serious fight in the battery-swapping electric scooter market.
Gogoro, a rival Taiwanese electric scooter company with a massive battery swapping network, has long held the top spot for battery swaps. But as KYMCO has poured money into its own program, the company appears to be set on closing the gap. Now that IONEX’s battery swapping is expanding internationally similarly to its rival’s international proliferation, that showdown is likely to become even more interesting.
Gogoro has yet to expand to Thailand, so far focusing on several larger markets such as India, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines, among other smaller countries. But with Thailand being another heavily two-wheeler-focused market, I’d imagine it’s on the company’s list.
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