Gogoro
Venture backed, Private | |
Industry | Energy |
Founded | 2011 |
Founders | Horace Luke, Matt Taylor |
Key people |
Horace Luke (Founder, CEO) Matt Taylor (Chief Technology Officer) |
Products | Gogoro Smartscooter, Gogoro Energy Network |
Number of employees | 300 |
Website | gogoro.com |
Gogoro is a Taiwanese-based venture-backed company that develops and sells electric scooters and battery swapping infrastructure.
Gogoro was founded in 2011 by Horace Luke and Matt Taylor.[1] In its year of inception, Gogoro secured $50 million in seed funding from Dr. Samuel Yin of Ruentex Group and Cher Wang.[2] In October 2014, Gogoro raised an additional $100 million in Series B funding from a collection of investors.[3] In November 2015, Gogoro announced a new round of investment from Panasonic and Taiwan's National Development Fund, increasing the Smartscooter innovator's capital up to US$180 million[4]
Gogoro Smartscooter, the first consumer product from Gogoro, was revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January 2015. Along with the scooter, Gogoro announced a battery-swapping network under the name Gogoro Energy Network.[5]
Products
Gogoro Smartscooter™
The Gogoro Smartscooter is an electric scooter designed for urban transportation. It's powered by an electric motor developed by Gogoro, which is marketed as the G1 Aluminum Liquid Cooled Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor.[6] Instead of plugging into an outlet to recharge, the Smartscooter runs on swappable Panasonic lithium ion 18650 batteries.[7]
The company states the following figures for the Smartscooter based on internal testing:[8]
- Top speed of 95 km/h
- Acceleration of 0 to 50 km/h in 4.2 seconds
- Maximum torque of 25 Nm @ 0-2,250 rpm
- Maximum horsepower of 8.3 hp @ 4,000 rpm
- Range of >100 km when traveling at speeds of 40 km/h.
The Smartscooter's sensors collect information such as speed, battery level, consumption rate, system failures, and scooter falls. This information is presented to riders via Gogoro mobile apps.[9]
Gogoro Energy Network
The Gogoro Energy Network is a modular battery swapping infrastructure designed to be deployed across an urban region. Riders would be able to swap out depleted batteries at a network of kiosks called GoStations for a monthly subscription fee.[10] The Smartscooter is the first vehicle to be integrated into the Gogoro Energy Network.[11]
Taiwan Launch
In July 2015, Gogoro Smartscooter was launched in Taiwan 24°59′2.5″N 121°32′7″E / 24.984028°N 121.53528°E, a country with the highest scooter density in the world.[12] By the end of the same year, more than 4,000 Smartscooters were sold and its market share in Taiwan's electric scooter market hit 33.94%.[13] According to Gogoro, the company now has a GoStation less than every 1.3 kilometers in Taipei.[14]
Partners
Gogoro has announced the following strategic partnerships:
- Carbon belts - Developed in partnership with Gates
- Performance tires - Developed in partnership with Maxxis
- Battery cells - Developed in partnership with Panasonic[7]
See also
- Battery electric vehicle
- Charging station
- Electric car
- Electric car use by country
- EV Project
- EverCharge
- List of modern production plug-in electric vehicles
- Plug-in electric vehicle
- Tesla Motors
- Renault Fluence Z.E.
- Shai Agassi
- Vehicle-to-grid
- Better Place
- Tesla
References
- ↑ "About Gogoro". www.gogoro.com. Gogoro Inc. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ↑ http://www.cnet.com/news/ex-htcers-bring-their-design-chops-to-electric-smartscooter/
- ↑ Lorenz, Taylor (5 January 2015). "Mysterious Startup Gogoro Quietly Raises $150 Million For An Electric Scooter You'll Never Have To Plug In". Business Insider. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ↑ "Electric Scooter Maker Gogoro Expands To Europe, Closes $130 Million Investment". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
- ↑ Fried, Ina. "Well-Heeled Gogoro Unveils Plan to Cover Cities With Scooters and Battery-Swapping Kiosks". Re/code. Revere Digital LLC. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- ↑ Wilson, Byron. "Gogoro Smartscooter First Look". Motorcycle USA. Motorcycle USA. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- 1 2 "Gogoro® Ignites Smart City Transformation with Launch of World's First Smartscooter™ and Battery Swapping Infrastructure". Gogoro.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ↑ "Smartscooter Spec Sheet" (PDF). www.gogoro.com. Gogoro Inc. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ↑ Nuñez, Michael. "CES 2015: The Gogoro Smartscooter Is A Tesla On Two Wheels". Popular Science. Popular Science. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- ↑ Ward-Bailey, Jeff. "CES 2015: Gogoro unveils smart scooter". The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ↑ "Gogoro® Ignites Smart City Transformation with Launch of World's First Smartscooter™ and Battery Swapping Infrastructure". Gogoro.com. Gogoro.
- ↑ Moura, Nelson. "Why Aren't Electric Scooters Taking Off in Taiwan?". VR World. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
- ↑ 經濟部工業局 (2008-05-19). "電動機車產業網--車輛維修資訊". www.lev.org.tw. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
- ↑ "Gogoro Smartscooter sales hit a new high this month - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19.