I am hopeful but skeptical. The battery has a huge impact on the performance and range of the bike. How do we know that the one you swap out will be the comparable to the one you had before?
The same way you know if the gas you get is any good, the fuel pump is accurate or the propane cylinder is really full. Expect the motorcycle to have some gauge that tells you the state of charge for the battery.
Will the batteries all be tested every time they're swapped out?
Good chargers already do this. Even lowly charges for drills and other power tools already do this.
What about damage from an accident or tampering someone might have done that makes it faulty or dangerous in some way?
There should be records for each battery since you'll pay for the swap, tracking down individuals who had access to the battery should be doable. Right now if someone puts dissolved glue in the gas station tank, how would you know until your engine goes kaplunk?
Will the batteries be inspected thoroughly when you drop it off?
Automation can do that. Go-no go battery chargers already exist. A physically damaged battery will not go into the charger and a chemically damaged battery will not charge.
That requires more people working at "transfer stations" to aid in the process and increases cost.
I doubt more people than run a gas station. No doubt the swap service would require you to put a good serviceable battery into a charger station, it checks the batttery in seconds and then lets you open the slot for the freshly charged battery that has an indicator right on it telling you the capacity etc.
Then there's the security aspect. They will need to have a stock of batteries ready to go at each station and these will be prime for theft.
If the batteries are standard then that isn't difficult. Bikes that use more energy might use more than a single battery or each bike will have range and performance according to it's design. The same thing happens now, small gas tank, less range. The engine doesn't know how big your gas tank is but the EV bike can know the available charge of the battery. People already steal gas. Stealing batteries might be harder with electronic tracking. I doubt you'd get far with stolen batteries.
The honor system might work in some areas, but in others it won't and many thousand dollar battery banks will go missing.
If the batteries are swappable, what will anyone do with a lot of batteries since getting a freshly charged one is easier than paying a theif for a stolen one that alerts service personnel the instant you try to exchange it.
I still think some kind of capacitor-based system or new chemistry that allows fast charging is an ideal option.
