Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業) entered the fight with “green” industry leader Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) over charging station standards with the unveiling of a new battery swap system and battery charging architecture for its first electric scooters.
The Kaohsiung-based company, which sells motorcycles under its Kymco brand, said it plans to introduce its first electric scooter in the second half of this year, achieving the first step in fulfilling the company’s ambition of expanding its product lineup to 10 models within the next three years.
Playing catch-up in the electric scooter business, the nation’s largest gasoline-powered scooter manufacturer has set a goal of selling half a million renewable energy two-wheelers over three years, company chairman Allen Ko (柯勝峰) said in a statement on Thursday last week.
To facilitate the sale of its scooters, the company plans to accelerate the deployment of its battery swap network and battery charging stations, leveraging its 5,000 sales outlets nationwide.
Kwang Yang is also ready with a plan to expand overseas, Ko said, adding that the firm plans to export its electric charging solution to 20 countries over the next three years.
Ko made the remarks in Tokyo on Thursday when the company showcased its first electric scooter, the Ionex, last week.
The firm launched its Noodoe Navigation, which uses the latest Internet of Vehicles technology to enable real-time communication between motorcycles and their riders, on Friday at the annual trade fair.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs in January announced that it aims to build 3,310 new charging stations across the nation for electric scooters in the next five years as part of the Executive Yuan’s policy to ban the sale of fossil-fuel-powered motorcycles by 2035.
Charging station installation costs are to be partly borne by the ministry, up to NT$300,000 for each station.
Gogoro, which launched its first battery-powered scooter two-and-a-half years ago, has sold more than 50,000 scooters and has expanded its footprint into Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan by offering its two wheelers and battery swap system in collaboration with local governments. It operates 500 battery-swapping stations in Taiwan.
The company has offered to license its battery control system for no royalty fees, but the offer has been turned down by local rivals Kwang Yang and Yamaha Motor Taiwan Co (台灣山葉), while Aeon Motor Co (宏佳騰) in January said it plans to launch an electric model and charging solution this year.
Kwang Yang’s charging solution offers more flexible ways for riders to recharge batteries than Gogoro’s, the company said on Thursday, adding that riders can choose to recharge batteries at home or at charging stations, or they can swap a fully-charged battery at a battery-swapping station.
Additional reporting by Lauly Li and Kuo Chia-erh
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