Gogoro preps launch of its battery-swapping electric scooters in yet another country

Gogoro continues its international expansion by adding the Philippines to its growing base of operations. The battery-swapping leader and its local partners just announced the impending rollout of its smart electric scooters and battery-swapping network in the island nation.

Gogoro is a Taiwan-based company founded in 2011 that primarily focuses on the development and distribution of smart electric scooters and the production and management of battery-swapping infrastructure.

Central to Gogoro’s operations is its innovative battery-swapping system, the Gogoro Energy Network, which allows users to quickly and conveniently replace depleted batteries with fully charged ones at designated swap stations. This system not only streamlines the scooter ownership experience 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, yet where charging options are few and far between.

We first heard that Gogoro planned to enter the Philippines market late last year. Now the company along with its partners have announced that the rollout will happen in the last quarter of this year.

Leading Filipino digital solutions platform Globe Group’s 917Ventures and top Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corporation joined Gogoro in a ceremony at Globe’s headquarters to announce public availability of Gogoro’s electric scooters in Metro Manila by Q4 2023.

As Globe Group president and CEO Ernest Cu explained:

We in the Globe Group are very proud to bring Gogoro Smartscooters and battery-swapping to the Philippines, a transport ecosystem that marries mobility innovation and sustainability. This year, Filipinos will have access to these electric two wheel vehicles and Gogoro’s convenient and cost-efficient battery-swapping technology, another first in the Philippines.

Gogoro’s technology is seen as 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 refill a combustion engine scooter’s fuel tank.

By targeting countries with large amounts of polluting two-wheeled vehicles on the road, Gogoro is hoping to quickly change the transportation landscape and replace those fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

Gogoro’s CEO and founder Horace Luke discussed how important the international expansion of Gogoro’s technology is for achieving the company’s goal of making a massive reduction in transportation-related pollution contributing to global climate change.

As Horace Luke explained:

Our partnership with the Globe Group and Ayala Corporation in the Philippines is a major milestone in our mission to transform urban transportation and provide an accessible path for riders to adopt sustainable urban mobility and play a key role in battling climate change and making the world better for all. We look forward to working together to deliver a sustainable transport system that will improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions, and provide a superior riding experience for consumers in the Philippines.

Gogoro’s main market in Taiwan served as the company’s proving grounds, demonstrating the success of the company’s model. There the battery-swapping giant oversees around 350,000 battery swaps each day and counts a subscriber base of over half a million riders. Its vast network of thousands of battery swap stations known as GoStations also serve as virtual power plants that can help stabilize the national energy grid during times of peak demand.

After nearly a decade of operations in Taiwan, the company has spent the last few years drastically expanding its base of operations. In addition to Taiwan and the new Philippines market, Gogoro is also operating in China, India, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, and Israel.

Singapore was the latest addition to the list, joining the Gogoro map just last month.

While the company is continuing to grow in its new markets, Gogoro still maintains impressive dominance its home market of Taiwan. There over 90% of electric scooters on the road use Gogoro’s batteries, though not all of those scooters are built by Gogoro. The company works with over a dozen other scooter and motorcycle manufacturers as part of the Powered By Gogoro network that lets OEMs develop scooters that accept Gogoro’s powertrain. That helps other companies leapfrog their own electric scooter development by removing the costly and complicated process of developing an electric scooter or motorcycle powertrain.