- The company has been named Gachaco
- ENEOS, the Japanese petroleum company holds 51 percent stake in Gachaco
- As of now, the Big Four’s Battery as a Service (BaaS) is only for the Japanese market
The Big Four– Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki– have established their swappable battery sharing company in Japan. It’s named Gachaco and was ideated back in 2019.
Apart from the Big Four, Japanese petroleum giant, ENEOS, has also made a heavy investment in Gachaco. It owns 51 percent stake, leaving Honda with 34 percent and the rest three with 5 percent. The battery chosen for this application is Honda’s Mobile Power Pack, which isn't a surprise.
So far, swappable battery service seems to possibly be the most convenient method for recharging electric two-wheelers. One has to just enter the station, swap the discharged battery for a charged one and get going. However, the infrastructure requirement is what the Big Four’s association will be able to build with comparative ease.
Going ahead, the shared swappable battery service will prove to be even more reliable as the number of stations increase and the batteries offer at least a few hundred kilometers of range. Moreover, the use of common battery packs also means that the vehicles would largely be similar, although with different designs and a handful of varying features.
As of now, Gachaco is only present in Japan but it won’t be a surprise if a similar technology arises in the European market as well in the future. As for India, it’ll be a while before Gachao enters our market.
