Fixed battery versus portable battery, which will dominate the EV market?

India holds the potential to become the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) market. As per data on the Vahan portal, EV sales in FY2024 recorded the best-ever in the country with a 42% jump to 1.67 million, with over 944,000 accounted for by two-wheelers, 632,000 three-wheelers, and 90,000 passenger vehicles.

Two-wheelers are leading the charge for EV adoption in the country, owing to the ease of use of its form factor, which allows for it to be adopted into fleets for commercial purposes. However, if we are to accelerate its adoption, we need to take a closer look at where the bottlenecks lie.

The two key challenges faced by electric vehicles, especially two-wheelers, include range anxiety and downtime. While recharging their batteries, another important incentive is to ensure lesser upfront cost. Only 14% of Indian households have their own two-wheeler as compared to emerging markets like Vietnam, Thailand, etc., which have upwards of 90% ownership.

EV gives us a fantastic opportunity to separate the scooter from the battery and variables the battery cost. This can enable millions of Indians to access a two-wheeler at Rs 40-50k and pay approximately Rs 1 per km for energy and battery. This can be the biggest win of EV two wheelers.  

These point to the lynchpin that is driving the conversation not just around electric two-wheelers, but around the entire EV industry–battery.

Battery–EV ecosystem’s lynchpin

The heart of an EV, the battery, is a critical component that dictates how the EV ecosystem evolves. Currently, in the market, there are two formats available: fixed and portable. It is easy to get into pitting the two against each other to figure out which one is the best. However, the key question that should be asked is which one of the two will help solve the most significant problems of range anxiety and downtime.

The solution for this lies with portable batteries, specifically if we were to look at it from the perspective of accelerating the adoption of electric two-wheelers. Let’s take a closer look at what portable batteries have to offer.

Portable batteries–the future of EV charging?

Portable batteries can be removed from the EVs to recharge it. This means that it does not need an elaborate charging infrastructure. It can be removed from the vehicle and connected to a charging point at home or even at the office, functioning similarly to the power bank. This flexibility offered by portable batteries opens the possibility of owning an EV to a border range of people.

Little to no downtime: In case of battery swapping, the vehicle does not need to be tethered to a charging station for hours together to recharge the vehicle. Battery swapping only takes a few minutes to swap out the battery with a fully charged one. This can be compared to the refueling of an ICE vehicle with little to no downtime. It is one of the biggest advantages of a portable battery as its downtime is significantly lower than fixed batteries.

Reduced range anxiety: The battery-swapping infrastructure or swap stations can be conveniently placed across cities, which means easier access to fully charged batteries. The ease of access helps to bring down range anxiety as well.

Reduce the cost of the EV: Typically, subscribing to battery swapping means considering the battery as a separate cost. The battery is essentially one of the most expensive parts of an EV. The separation between the vehicle and the battery results in driving down the cost further, making it comparable to ICE two-wheelers.

Another sector that benefits from battery swapping is fleet operators, specifically the ones in the last and first-mile delivery segments. The low cost of vehicles combined with reduced downtime makes electric two-wheelers a cost-effective option for deliveries. This transition will further drive the adoption of EVs which will fuel the establishment of charging infrastructure owing to the increased demand. The best part is all of the benefits plus decarbonised delivery.

Furthermore, portable batteries can easily plug into an entire infrastructure of the “battery-as-a-service" (BaaS) model or the battery-swapping model which has a lot of advantages. As we speak this space is evolving with several players building swappable battery infrastructure for both B2B as well as B2C use cases. The impact of this can be almost a 40% reduction in the EV acquisition cost, further helping in EV proliferation.

The perfect solution

Both fixed and portable batteries have their advantages and disadvantages. It cannot be pitched one against the other. This primarily depends on the form factor of the EV and its use-case. The features of fixed batteries make it best suited for larger vehicles that has the capacity to hold larger size batteries, like electric cars or larger commercial EVs. The large size also makes it difficult to use the portable option. For smaller vehicles like electric two-wheelers and even three-wheelers, portable batteries are better suited as it is easier to move around given that it is the size of a full helmet.

The focus needs to be on using solutions that have the potential to accelerate the adoption of EVs in the country and two-wheelers are the way to go with its portable batteries as it offers a faster and more convenient refueling solution.

(Vivekananda Hallekere is the CEO and Co-founder of Bounce Infinity, an Indian EV mobility startup)