Battery swapping stations to surpass petrol pumps in Taiwan
In Taiwan, there will soon be more battery exchange stations than petrol stations. Electric scooter manufacturer Gogoro built a total of 2,215 of its battery exchange stations in Taiwan by the end of 2021.
Meanwhile, the number of petrol stations in Taiwan stood at 2,487. In the course of 2022, the number of battery exchange stations is expected to exceed that of petrol stations as Gogoro aims to install new stations in more remote areas.
Gogoro vice president for energy services Alan Pan told a news conference that Gogoro aims to deploy more large-scale battery swapping stations called Super GoStations along with smaller stations in collaboration with government agencies.
The battery swapping network in Taiwan is not only open to those riding Gogoro’s electric scooters, but also to customers with motorbikes and electric moped scooters from Yamaha Motor, Aeon Motor and Motive Power Industry. These companies make up the Powered by Gogoro Network (PBGN) in Taiwan, which includes other big names internationally. Although there was a drop in demand for motorised two-wheelers last year in Taiwan where sales dropped by a chole 21.9 per cent, members of the PBGN only saw a drop of 5.2 per cent which may suggest that being part of a battery-swapping network is advantageous for sales.
Be that as it may, being a part of PBGN has other advantages. A couple of months ago, Gogoro and belt-drive specialist Gates revealed a new belt drive system called Flo Drive that will be open to manufacturers in the PBGN that now includes some of the largest two-wheeler manufacturers in the world such as India’s Hero Motorcorp and China’s Yadea and DCJ.
Gogoro has made waves internationally in a relatively short time span. With the success in its home country of Taiwan, Gogoro is now setting up to establish battery swapping networks in India and neighbouring China. This expansion is to be assisted by Apple supplier Foxconn, using the latter’s extensive production capacities. Gogoro is aiming to go public on NASDAQ this quarter.
Including reporting from Carrie Hampel
1 Comment