Can battery swapping transform urban mobility? Will it catalyze EV adoption the same way the Web sparked the PC revolution of the 90s or make the quantum leaps smartphones had on mobile computing in the 10s?
For decades, technology, in the modern sense, has improved the lives of millions. Chips have gotten faster, smaller and cheaper, enabling breakthroughs that were once just a fantasy.
We can video chat with loved ones anywhere in the world, remotely perform life-saving surgeries with a robot, and surf all human knowledge from powerful computers the size of our hands.
But what about this decade’s innovation? Can battery swapping improve the lives of millions and address climate change, now and in the future?
In a word, yes. Gogoro simply wouldn’t exist otherwise.
In 2011, a group of futurists, engineers, designers and data scientists led by Horace Luke, Gogoro’s founder and CEO, began working to address one simple question:
How do you make riding electric a reality for the millions who rely on two-wheelers every day in the world’s most crowded, sprawling megacities?
We knew that urban riders needed a solution that went well beyond just replacing an ICE with a battery pack and calling it an “electric” vehicle or getting them from Point A to Point B.
It needed to make their lives easier and cities more liveable for everyone.
So we engineered safer, swappable batteries that would be future-proof, software enhanced and accessible to thousands of riders. We designed vehicles you’d love to ride and want to own and equipped them with compact computers and designed the world's first operating system that constantly thinks about what you might need next.
We securely synced it all together in the cloud, including manufacturing and customer service, that continuously improves the experience for Gogoro-powered smart vehicle owners that swap at any of one of our network of thousands of battery swapping stations that intelligently distribute energy, so the power they need is always on, always ready, when and where they need it. 24/7.
But we didn’t stop there.
We ventured into the next frontier of what's possible with software and services that have enabled our Smart Batteries to last longer, become more efficient over time, and easily slot into a 2nd and 3rd life before they're recycled.
We developed our vehicles to be unstealable and keep you safer on the streets with regular software updates.
We architected the network to be scalable and flexible with a small footprint that would make it a cost-effective smart city upgrade.
The goal was to shift perceptions of what electric fuel could be.
After all, the industry standard shouldn’t be taking up more liveable space for plug-in chargers that are slow, inefficient and only capable of charging a single vehicle at a time. Your only window to charge up shouldn’t be at home or work, draining the grid for everyone either. And you should never have to wait 15 or more minutes to get back on the road every single time you need more fuel.
It needed to work smarter, not harder, and be accessible to all.
So, in 2015, we introduced the world’s first fully integrated, and open technology platform that powers a 360˚mobility ecosystem. All built around one simple idea: Swap & Go.
Instant power. Easy to use, always ready. Never a wait.
Today, in Taiwan alone, Gogoro Network subscribers have swapped batteries to date at over GoStations, averaging swaps a day. They've collectively ridden kilometers and saved CO2.
And we’ve partnered with global scooter makers Yamaha, PGO, Aeonmotor, CMC’s eMOVING, eReady and ADATA in Taiwan, Hero MotoCorp in India, and Yadea and DCJ in China, who are building the next generation of smart vehicles Powered by the Gogoro Network.
There’s still more work to be done, though. We’re setting even bigger goals and looking even further ahead.
As we continue expanding the Gogoro Network to cities across the globe, developing new products, and innovating our core technologies, we’re riding towards 100 billion KMs and five billion battery swaps by the end of this decade. That would save 10 billion KGs of CO2, as much CO2 as a forest the size of Taiwan or roughly 11,000 Central Parks.
Our mission is to put that smart, portable electric power within reach of every urban rider in the world.
And we’ll do it together. This is the decade of electric for all. You just have to Swap & Go.
