Taiwan’s EPA has made a large pot of subsidy money available to businesses to set up the battery swapping systems.

Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported last week that the government is planning to build 60 battery exchange stations for electric motorcycles. But the best part for bikers is that it will also provide 600 electric motorcycles free of charge for use by residents.

Cycles are popular cheap transportation in Taiwan’s dense cities, so electrifying them would do a lot to clean up the urban air. Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has made a large pot of subsidy money available to businesses to set up the battery swapping systems. The goal is “to accelerate the replacement of existing internal combustion engine motorcycles with electric ones and thus reduce air pollution from motorcycles. The system…will make changing batteries as convenient as filling up a tank of gasoline. Consumers will no longer need to worry about battery power and maintenance problems.”

The stations will be built in New Taipei City in the north of the country and in Kaohsiung City in the south, with the goal of providing services to 5,000 electric motorcycles. A maximum subsidy of NT$1.5 million (around $48,000) is available for each swapping station.

Image:  URAY Electric Motorcycles