Taiwan’s Kymco started to focus on the promotion of its Ionex electric scooters since 2021, and has already proposed its grid strategy for 2022. The company’s chairman, Ko Sheng-feng, is now providing further details on the construction of the Ionex battery swapping stations.
Kymco proposed the “3D Deployment” strategy days ago, and talked about the deployment of Ionex battery swapping stations from multiple facades. We have inquired Kymco Chairman Ko Sheng-feng about questions such as the site selection process for these battery swapping stations, the exact locations of the stations for the offshore islands, and the possibility of traveling around the island with just its electric scooter.
Can the Number of Ionex Battery Swapping Stations Reach 2,000 Units This Year?
As indicated by market statistics, the intensity and accessibility of battery swapping stations is regarded as the lifeline of the Taiwanese electric scooter market. However, it isn’t necessarily easy to construct battery swapping stations, since issues such as land obtainment, exclusive power cables, and assimilation with surrounding stores will impede the grid expansion process. So, why is Kymco confident towards a twofold growth in battery swapping stations?
“The attainment of 2,000 stations this year is actually considered to be a relatively conservative estimation, since we will easily achieve and surpass this figure,” Ko confidently pointed out. Ko further commented that the partnership with channel partners, as well as the lightweight and easy installation features of the convenience battery swapping stations, are accelerating the deployment of Ionex.
Ionex 3.0 merely took 6 months of time to arrive at nearly 1,000 stations last year, which had exceeded market demand in terms of the provision of battery swapping stations for a brand like Ionex which had just began to sell electric scooters. However, infrastructure construction is important since it adds purchase confidence to the consumers. Hence, Kymco will continue to expedite its grid expansion in 2022 in order to ensure its competitiveness.
Are 5 Battery Slots Really Enough for Each Convenience Battery Swapping Station?
What’s gotten a lot of people curious lately about Kymco’s convenience battery swapping station is that it comes with only 5 battery slots despite featuring groundbreaking, exclusive cables, as well as requiring less space and cost. Will a provision of only 5 battery slots be enough for it to be considered a “station”?
“The emphasis of our Ionex stations is not only on quantity, but also effectiveness,” commented Ko. Ko believes that the effectiveness of the stations should not be measured by the total number of batteries that are waiting to be swapped, but rather by the number of owners who would go to specific locations and stations to swap out their batteries. From this perspective, the quantity of batteries is no longer the emphasis, since the key lies on the ability of the owners to acquire fully charged batteries under the shortest distance.
It is actually more in line with the concept of decentralization, where consumers are not required to congest at a specified location, and are free to swap out their batteries anywhere. Ko commented, “A dispersion of 10 small stations that will better satisfy owners is much better than a large station where owners may not even be able to get what they are after.”
Can Ionex Facilitate Travelling Around Taiwan?
Kymco has now established its battery swapping stations in Wuling and Kinmen. So where is the “Island Hopping” strategy hopping to in 2022? Will the island route that aroused significant interests among numerous owners come to life this year?
“Both offshore island stations and the facilitating of travel around Taiwan are a part of our plan. We apologize for not being able to announce any details right now,” commented Ko. Ko promised that the company is going to adhere to the two major principles of “effective locations” and “big data site selection” when deploying the construction of battery swapping stations on the path to attaining 2,000 stations. Thus, regions with a higher demand will definitely receive fulfilment.
How will Kymco know which region has the most demand? Let’s get back to the convenience battery swapping stations for a second. A convenience battery swapping station can actually be used as a mini data collecting tool. It can be rapidly deployed at various regions to provide Kymco with an overview of the consumption of each region, and the collocation of sales volume from the Ionex stores will also further project high demand areas. A replenishment of large battery swapping stations in these particular areas would satisfy the demand for battery swapping.
This enormous network is supported by another important partner, which are convenience stores. For around-the-island routes, scooter owners not only need to replenish power, but also their stomachs, and that makes the convenience stores along various major highways important spots. Hence, Kymco is currently working with four prominent convenience store operators in Taiwan, especially with 7-11 which has the most retailers. The construction speed of the stations at each of these convenience stores will vary according to their resources and regulations. However, it would be much easier to station these lightweight convenience battery swapping stations compared to large stations that would occupy the entire entrance of the store.
Summary
Kymco possesses significant natural advantages in the expansion of battery swapping networks, with more than 500 dealers in Taiwan from an enormous system that is now widely known among the public. The addition of convenience stores and extra hot spot large battery swapping stations has also amplified the intensity of the network, and owners no longer need to remember where the stations are, since all they need to do now is to just go to the nearest alley.
If all of the above-mentioned solutions are unable to fulfill the relevant demand, Kymco will also offer a “prestigious battery swapping” service that goes straight to your house for battery swapping. This is regarded as a super solution that makes up for all of the lacking aspects.
Aside from a continuous grid expansion, Ionex will also increase its retailers from 30 this year to 100 by providing a more comprehensive level of logistics on the one hand, and encouraging transformation and upgrades among partnering dealers on the other. This will facilitate the adoption of the service by the younger generation of people.
Kymco Ionex has obviously attained a sizable degree of experience from the market, and has managed to make up for a number of possible pain points during the early phase of the climbing sales of electric scooters. Thanks to the support from battery swapping stations and the back-end logistics system, Kymco Ionex will possess even more competitiveness on the journey of electric scooter transformation.
(Cover and content photo source: Kymco)