The Industrial Development Bureau yesterday said it is postponing its decision on what the standard model for electric scooter charging stations is to be, after Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) and Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽機車) proposed competing battery-swapping systems for the government’s nationwide charging station project.
“It is unlikely for the bureau to make a decision before the end of this month, as a standard model must be agreed upon by all of the 21 motorcycle companies in Taiwan,” bureau official Huang Yu-feng (黃裕?) told reporters.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs on Jan. 4 announced that it would build 3,310 new charging stations for electric scooters across the nation, with charging equipment and battery-swapping facilities installed in these stations.
The project is part of the Executive Yuan’s policy to encourage the use of electric scooters and ban the sale of fossil fuel-powered motorcycles by 2035.
Huang said Gogoro was the only company that proposed a battery-swapping business model during the bureau’s first meeting with the 21 firms on Jan. 4.
The bureau initially intended to use Gogoro’s system as the standard for the 3,310 new charging stations, but the other 20 companies opposed the idea during the meeting, Huang said.
Kwang Yang on Tuesday announced that it would not use Gogoro’s system and that it is to develop its own battery-swapping system.
Huang said it would take time for the 21 companies to agree on which of the two systems to use.
The bureau has not yet decided when it is to hold a second meeting with the scooter firms, he said.
Kwang Yang holds a nearly 40 percent share of the local fossil fuel-powered scooter market, while Gogoro holds an 80 percent share of the electric scooter market, according to the bureau’s tallies.
Gogoro has built 500 battery-swapping stations across the nation.
The company holds the patent for its battery-swapping system. If the government adopts Gogoro’s model, other scooter firms would have to pay royalty fees to Gogoro for using it, the bureau said.
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