Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), builder of the world’s first battery-swapping network for its electric scooters, yesterday unveiled a new battery charger that allows riders to charge batteries at home or at public charging stations, as a new rival has emerged with multiple battery recharging options to challenge its lead.
The new mobile battery charger provides a supplementary battery charging solution for riders in areas where the its battery-swapping network’s coverage is limited, Gogoro said.
Taoyuan-based Gogoro’s announcement came after Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業) last week introduction its first electric scooter in Tokyo.
Photo: CNA
The Kaohsiung-based company, which sells scooters under the Kymco brand, also unveiled more flexible energy solutions so riders do not have to worry that their mobility will be limited because of a lack of battery-swapping stations.
“The energy-swapping system is the company’s thesis,” Gogoro cofounder and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) told a media briefing on the company’s third anniversary. “The system is real. The system is proven.”
Battery swapping is the better way to recharge, Gogoro said, adding that since 2015, about 60,000 owners of its scooters have swapped a total of 10 million batteries.
To get more consumers to switch to electric scooters, Gogoro said it has expanded the number of its battery-swapping stations to more than 522, meaning that 74 percent of Gogoro owners can access fully charged batteries within 5km.
The company plans to expand its battery-swapping network to eastern Taiwan — Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties — in the first quarter of next year and provide access to its energy-swapping system to several scooter makers.
Some manufacturers have developed prototypes and others are in initial discussions with Gogoro, Luke said.
The company is willing to provide its system to any interested party, Luke said, but urged local peers to form a team to address overseas markets, whose sizes are more than 10 times that of Taiwan.
For example, India sells between 15 million and 16 million scooters per year, he said.
The Indian government is set to ban sales of gasoline-powered scooters by 2030.
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