Taiwanese startup Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) plans to launch its first electric “smart scooter,” along with a network of battery-swapping stations in Taipei and New Taipei City this summer, the firm said yesterday.
The Taoyuan-based company said Taipei and New Taipei City would be a global example of a more flexible and sustainable electric refueling system.
Gogoro plans to build a complete battery-swapping station network in Taiwan before moving on to other global destinations, company marketing chief Peng Ming-i (彭明義) told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference.
Photo: CNA
Support from local governments and the Taiwanese market’s curiosity about trying new technologies make the two cities a good choice to be Gogoro’s pilot market, Peng added.
“We are not just making electric smart scooters. More importantly, we are offering a sustainable energy solution by leveraging the power of connectivity and technology to reinvent how we experience energy in major cities around the world,” chief executive and cofounder Horace Luke (陸學森) said.
Luke formerly served as smartphone maker HTC Corp’s (宏達電) chief innovative officer.
Peng said the battery-swapping stations — dubbed GoStations — would connect to one another and the scooters via cloud computing, adding that stations with high traffic might be set to charge batteries faster and more frequently by Gogoro, while lower-use stations might wait until late in the night to charge, relieving potential pressure on strained power grids.
“Ideally, Gogoro hopes to build a GoStation for every 2km2 in Taipei and New Taipei City, but the exact number of stations will depend on our funding and available locations,” Peng said.
Local governments would help the firm find station locations and charge “reasonable” rent while the company will cover the construction cost itself, Peng added.
Smart scooter buyers will not have to pay for the batteries because riders would rent the power sources at the GoStations, Peng said.
Gogoro yesterday did not disclose the expected price of its smart scooter or its subscription rates, which it said would depend on battery use by riders.
Separately, Peng said the company has fully utilized the US$50 million that it raised in 2011, and is raising US$100 million to continue research and development of electric two-wheeled vehicles.
“The US$1 billion fund is gradually injecting into the company. We also plan to use the fund to build GoStations and on marketing expenses,” Peng said.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS