Gogoro Inc and three other electric scooter manufacturers using Gogoro’s system have been ordered to submit plans before Friday next week to recall electric scooters with unreliable battery performance, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday.
More than 500 Gogoro electric scooter riders have since last year reported abnormalities in the scooter’s battery depletion rate, leading to sudden power outages while riding and even traffic accidents.
New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) and Vision Zero convener Lin Po-Hsun (林柏勛) further raised the issue in a news conference in Taipei yesterday, in which officials of the MOTC, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and Executive Yuan’s Consumer Protection Committee also participated.
Photo: CNA
When encountering battery problems, riders often accepted compensation packages from Gogoro or scooter rental operators, such as rebates on the monthly rent or riders helping each other by putting a sticker on the battery to warn the next users about the problems, Chiu said.
Both Gogoro and the government failed to offer adequate protection to scooter riders, he said.
Article No. 9 of Gogoro’s battery service contract with consumers essentially exempts the scooter manufacturer from the responsibility of guaranteeing the quality and reliability of battery performance, Chiu said, adding that the court has yet to issue opinions about the article’s legality.
The government has not stipulated the terms of agreement that should be stated in the standardized contract for battery service, based on the authorization of Article 17 of the Consumer Protection Act (消費者保護法), Chiu said.
“A fair contract should guarantee the buyers’ right to receive an electric scooter that operates smoothly, and buyers have the right to reasonably expect reliable battery performance. The government should require that the guarantee for the battery’s quality be stated in the scooter’s battery service contract in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act and Terms of Agreement in the Standardized Automobile Maintenance Contract (汽車維修定型化契約應記載及不得記載事項),” Chiu said.
“The guarantee should state the battery has the quality that was agreed upon when signing the contract and does not contain defects that diminish the value of the vehicle or make the vehicle unfit for any regular or specific uses,” he added.
Michael Chao (趙晉緯), a specialist in the Department of Public Transportation and Supervision, said that specifications of a scooter’s battery are stipulated by the MOEA, while the MOTC would ask Gogoro to review whether they are flaws in the design of the vehicle.
About 80,000 problematic batteries have been removed from scooters in circulation, Chao said, citing Gogoro’s data. Of the 700,000 electric scooters in Taiwan, about 600,000 use Gogoro’s system, which is produced by Gogoro, Aeonmotor Co (宏佳騰), Yamaha Motor Taiwan and Suzuki Taiwan, Chao said.
“Based on the Regulations for Motor Vehicle Safety Investigation, Recall, Correction, Supervision and Management (汽車安全性調查召回改正及監督管理辦法), we have asked the four scooter manufacturers to submit plans to recall scooters before Friday next week, in which they should estimate the scale of the recall and indicate whether scooters have design issues,” Chao said, adding that most of the problems were found in first-generation and second-generation batteries.
Consumer Protection Committee deputy director Chen Hsing-hung (陳星宏) said that the disclaimer in the battery service contract contradicts the relevant regulations in the Consumer Protection Act and infringes consumers’ rights, adding it would meet with MOTC and MOEA officials to review Gogoro’s standardized contract with consumers.
In response, Gogoro said: “We are carefully reviewing any incident that could affect riders’ safety and have informed users about our ways to address these issues as well as compensatory measures. We will continue to give them updates about better solutions that would be taken to ensure a quality and safe service.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS