If you've been reading RideApart for a minute, you may be aware that I've been following Honda's Mobile Power Pack e: developments with interest for the past few years.
So far, we've seen it appear in scooters in Japan, Europe, and Indonesia, in construction equipment, in cool concepts for electric generators that can power your home, and even powering tourist boats. Will you need more than one HMPP e: for some of these applications? Sure, but the modularity and purposely wide range of use cases is kind of the entire point of this system.
If you've been wondering when Honda would finally bring the HMPP e: to India, the wait is over at last. Order for the newest member of the Honda Activa family, the Activa e: (you totally saw that name coming, right?) will officially open in India on January 1, 2025.
For those unfamiliar, the combustion version of the Honda Activa has been extremely popular for a long time, so developing an EV version that utilizes the new HMPP e: was kind of a no-brainer. Of course, if you're going to have swappable batteries, you also need swappable battery stations that riders can access and use out in the wild.
So far, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has established Honda Power Pack Exchanger swap stations in Bengaluru and Delhi, with additional plans to roll out in Mumbai soon. The Activa e: uses two HMPP e: packs, which each provide 1.5 kWh and offer a claimed 102 kilometers (about 63.3 miles) on a single charge. For city riding, something like this is ideal. This is where EV motorbikes absolutely thrive.
At the same time, Honda India is also introducing a non-swappable EV scooter, the QC 1. Both scoots get cool modern features like full LED lighting, ride modes, and big digital displays on their dashboards (a whopping 7-inch TFT display on the Activa e: and a smaller 5-inch LCD on the QC1). The Activa e: can also offer phone connectivity via the optional Honda Roadsync Duo app, allowing for turn-by-turn navigation, phone and music access, and more.
Pricing information hasn't been announced yet, but deliveries are expected to begin in February 2025. Additionally, HMSI says it's hoping to produce around 100,000 of both of these electric scooters (combined, not individually) from its plants in India per year. Will the demand be there? That remains to be seen, but Honda India's most recent moves seem to indicate that it knows what it's doing.
