Vehicle and motorcycle maker Sanyang Motor Co Ltd (三陽工業) yesterday said it would team up with state-run refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中油) to build a profitable electric-vehicle (EV) business.
Sanyang Motor would adopt fast-charging batteries developed by CPC for its new electric scooters to complement its own electric battery solutions, according to a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
That would pave the way for the automaker to launch its first electric scooters at the end of next year, the MOU said.
CPC said its long-term investment in fast-charging batteries for electric vehicles would bear fruit.
The company is to commercialize the technology by the end of next year, after nine years of research and development, it said.
Sanyang has lagged behind its local rivals in tapping into the electric scooter market.
Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) has sold more than 900,000 electric scooters since 2015.
Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業) in June launched the Ionex line of electric scooters and battery charging solutions, and has joined forces with an Indian partner to make inroads into the world’s second-most populous country.
Gogoro and Kawng Yang develop their own battery packs.
“We believe that electric batteries are the make-or-break factor for success in the electric-vehicle sector,” Sanyang chairman Wu Chin-yuan (吳清源) told a media briefing.
“It requires heavy investment to develop electric batteries. With a small paid-in capital of NT$8.53 billion [US$276.3 million], Sanyang cannot do it alone,” Wu said.
Gogoro has spent NT$6 billion to develop batteries for its electric scooters, Wu said.
CPC’s fast-charging batteries are more cost-efficient and would allow the companies to turn a profit more quickly, he added.
The batteries can be fully charged in 15 minutes, much shorter than the two hours for batteries without the fast-charging feature, he said.
The electric batteries could also be installed at 2,000 gas stations operated by CPC nationwide, saving time and money when building a new battery-swap network, Wu said.
CPC expects to build 160 electric charging and battery-swap stations by the end of next month. It is part of a NT$2 billion plan to build 1,000 battery charging and swap stations nationwide within three years.
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