Electric Scooter News: EG Launches Battery Swap Services
Seoul-headquartered battery company LG Energy Solution announced the launch of its battery swap services in the Gwanak and Dongjak districts.
On March 5, Seoul-headquartered battery company LG Energy Solution announced the launch of its battery swap services in the Gwanak and Dongjak districts.
Following a successful pilot program, LG’s KooRoo segment will manage the battery swapping stations for electric two-wheelers (E2Ws). The battery solutions provider collaborated with Woowha Youth and other delivery platforms in its pilot program, which resulted in 70% of participants opting to subscribe.
The service allows electric scooter riders to swap depleted batteries for fully charged ones in any of over 180 stations across the two districts. It aims to improve convenience, mitigating the impact of an e-scooter’s range limitations, often considered the main disadvantage of the particular personal electric vehicle (PEV).
Delivery riders participating in the pilot program praised the benefits of switching to an electric scooter from their gasoline-powered motorcycles. These advantages include emission-free riding, quitter riding for night deliveries, lower operating and maintenance costs, and sufficient swapping stations.
According to the data collected from the pilot program, the battery-swapping service cuts maintenance costs by more than half if the rider travels at least 78 miles per day. Hence, it improves the riding experience and the earnings potential of delivery riders.
In addition, KooRoo provides a mobile app riders can use to monitor congestion levels at each battery-swapping station to help them avoid ones with long queues. The app also allows online reservations and provides access to a navigation system that displays the optimal route to a specified station.
The electric scooter battery swapping service uses a single-authentication system, allowing a rider to swap in less than 20 seconds. Furthermore, it uses lithium-ion batteries that are compatible with most e-scooter models available in Seoul.
LG maintains a battery safety diagnostic system that tracks each battery that leaves a swapping station in real time. It collects charge, discharge, temperature, and remaining lifespan information once every minute to ensure faulty or degraded batteries are removed from the swap pool.
Soul’s battery-swapping network marks the latest advancement in electric scooter technology. Another notable innovation in the industry is the introduction of the Flash Motors Nano Elite at the Las Vegas CES 2024 in January. Nano Elite uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology to equip an e-scooter with various capabilities, including adaptive cruise control, preventative maintenance, and collision avoidance.
