Gogoro continues its international expansion by adding the Philippines to its growing base of operations. The battery-swapping leader and its local partners have just announced the imminent rollout of its smart electric scooters and battery-swapping network across the island nation.
gogoro is a Taiwan-based company founded in 2011 that mainly focuses on the development and distribution of smart electric scooters as well as the production and management of battery exchange infrastructure.
At the heart of Gogoro’s operations is its innovative battery swap system, the Gogoro Energy Network, which allows users to quickly and easily swap out depleted batteries with fully charged batteries at designated swap stations. This system not only streamlines the experience of owning a scooter, but also aims to reduce urban pollution and promote sustainable transportation.
The system is ideal in densely populated urban areas where two-wheelers are a common form of transportation, but charging options are scarce.
We first heard that Gogoro was planning to enter the Philippine market late last year. Now, the company and its partners have announced that the rollout will take place in the last quarter of this year.
917Ventures, Globe Group’s leading Philippine digital solutions platform, and leading Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corporation joined Gogoro at a ceremony at Globe headquarters to announce the public availability of Gogoro’s electric scooters in Metro Manila by the fourth quarter of 2023.
As Globe Group President and CEO Ernest Cu explained:
“We at Globe Group are very proud to bring Gogoro smart scooters and battery swapping to the Philippines, a transportation ecosystem that combines mobility innovation and sustainability. This year, Filipinos will have access to these two-wheeled electric vehicles and Gogoro’s convenient and economical battery-swap technology, another first in the Philippines.
Gogoro’s technology is considered a major advantage over traditional combustion engine scooters as well as modern electric scooters that require home charging. While Gogoro’s scooters have the option of being charged at home with an accessory charger, the vast majority of users prefer the ability to swap batteries on the go using the company’s network of swap stations. This essentially ‘recharges’ the scooter in seconds instead of hours, allowing riders to continue on their way in a fraction of the time it would take to fill the fuel tank of a combustion engine scooter.
By targeting countries with large numbers of polluting two-wheeled vehicles, Gogoro hopes to quickly change the transport landscape and replace these fossil-fuel vehicles.
Gogoro CEO and Founder Horace Luke explained how important the international expansion of Gogoro’s technology is to achieving the company’s goal of massively reducing transportation-related pollution that contributes to global climate change.
As Horace Luke explained:
“Our partnership with the Globe Group and Ayala Corporation in the Philippines is a major step in our mission to transform urban transportation and provide an accessible path for riders to embrace sustainable urban mobility and play a key role in the fight against climate change. and make the world a better place. for everyone. We look forward to working together to provide a sustainable transportation system that will improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions and provide a superior driving experience for consumers in the Philippines.
Gogoro’s main market in Taiwan served as the company’s testing ground, demonstrating the success of the company’s model. There, the battery-swapping giant oversees around 350,000 battery swaps every day and has a subscriber base of over half a million riders. Its vast network of thousands of battery swapping stations known as GoStations also serve as virtual power plants that can help stabilize the national power grid during periods of peak demand.
After nearly a decade of operations in Taiwan, the company has spent the past few years significantly expanding its base of operations. Besides Taiwan and the new Philippines market, Gogoro also operates in China, India, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore and Israel.
Singapore was the latest addition to the list, joining the Gogoro map last month.
As the company continues to grow in its new markets, Gogoro still maintains impressive dominance in its home market of Taiwan. There are more than 90% of electric scooters on the road, use Gogoro’s batteries, although not all of these scooters are built by Gogoro. The company works with more a dozen other scooter and motorcycle manufacturers as part of the Powered By Gogoro network which allows OEMs to develop scooters that accept Gogoro’s powertrain. This helps other companies leapfrog developing their own electric scooter by eliminating the costly and complicated process of developing an electric scooter or motorcycle powertrain.
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