The battery-swapping leaders at Gogoro have cemented their place at the head of the pack by completing their one millionth battery. The company’s growth from 0 in 2015 to fundraising in 2017 to one million strong today makes Gogoro the “de facto” battery swap standard for two-wheel vehicles in Taiwan, where the company’s batteries power up to 95% of all electric two-wheelers.
“Gogoro’s one-millionth battery is a testament to how an open battery swapping ecosystem can flourish by facilitating how governments, a wide range of vehicle makers and riders can embrace sustainable electric transportation,” explains Horace Luke, the company’s founder and CEO. “Since launching in 2015, Gogoro has managed more than 255 million battery swaps, and, together with our customers, have saved 384 million kg (846-million lbs.) of CO2.”
Hot Swap Electric Scooters
Battery swap vending machine by Gogoro.
At the heart of Gogoro’s battery swap ecosystem is the Gogoro Network, an “open source” battery swapping platform that the company calls “smart, scalable, and continually optimizing itself to be dynamic and versatile for people, communities, and businesses.” With more than 450,000 riders and over 10,000 battery swapping GoStations at over 2,300 locations in operation now, performing up to 340,000 daily battery swaps, it’s hard to argue against the network’s efficiency.
Since entering operation, Gogoro riders have completed more than 255 million total battery swaps, and major manufacturers like Yamaha have acknowledged that by adopting Gogoro’s batteries for use in its electric scooters.
“Gogoro is excited to be supporting Yamaha’s growing portfolio of Gogoro-powered vehicles and we look forward to their new Taiwan customers using Gogoro’s battery swapping,” said Luke. “Yamaha and Gogoro remain committed to bringing better and more sustainable transportation solutions to market that integrate Yamaha’s incredible vehicle design and engineering together with Gogoro’s leading battery swapping.”
Gogoro + Yamaha Electric Scooter
It’s important to note that the Gogoro system may not be the one chosen by the Honda, Yamaha, KTM, and Vespa “alliance” to create a new swappable battery standard, despite the new Yamaha using their batteries. Yamaha Taiwan operates somewhat separately from Yamaha Japan/USA, and, while not its own company, it definitely does its own thing now and again.
What do you guys think, should Honda, Vespa, etc. just throw in the towel and adopt Gogoro’s system? What kind of advances or advantages would a new system have to have to justify going another way? Would a cube battery like this even fit in a conventional motorcycle frame? Scroll down to the comments and let us know.
Source | Images: Gogoro.
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