Coup Mobility GmbH, a Berlin-based electric scooter sharing service provider that uses electric scooters made by Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), said it plans to discontinue its business in three European cities — Berlin, Paris and Madrid — and end its cooperation with the Taiwanese brand.
Coup announced that its service in Berlin is to end in the middle of next month, and its operations in Paris and Madrid in the near future, adding that the services are not economically sustainable long term.
“Given a sharing market that is extremely competitive and the service’s high costs, continuing to operate Coup will be economically unfeasible over the long term,” the company said.
Coup, a subsidiary of Bosch Group, launched its sharing service in Berlin in the summer of 2016 using 200 Gogoro electric scooters.
Earlier this year, Coup expanded its operations to Paris and Madrid, with its Gogoro fleet increasing to 5,000 scooters.
Patrons are able to book a scooter using an app, which allows them to unlock a scooter at one location and leave it elsewhere as long as they remain within a defined operating area, a business model which aimed to cater to young consumers.
“Coup has become a well-known brand in the European sharing market. Many loyal customers regularly use its electric scooters and value Coup’s high-quality service,” the company said. “However, offering this requires a high outlay ... which with battery swaps and customer service is cost-intensive.”
Coup was competing with Cityscoot in Paris, which operates similar services and has established a strategic partnership with Uber Technologies Inc.
Coup said it does not plan to sell its Gogoro scooters, but keep them until another business plan on how to use them is devised.
Meanwhile, Gogoro’s local GoShare service has been expanding smoothly since its debut in August, the company told the Taipei Times yesterday.
GoShare, which expanded its service from Taoyuan to Taipei last month, had more than 220,000 registered members as of the beginning of this month.
It has deployed 1,000 lightweight Gogoro Viva scooters in Taipei and plans to add 3,000 more by the end of this year, the company said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
RSS