Gogoro, a leading electric vehicle brand from Taiwan, has officially entered India with a multifaceted business strategy. Gogoro manufactures both electric scooters and battery swap technology solutions and plans to gradually introduce both products in the Indian market.
Gogoro has partnered with India’s Zypp Electric, a Gurgaon-based last-mile logistics business that uses electric vehicles to reduce carbon emissions. Both companies will launch a pilot program which will be implemented in Gurgaon, Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Bengaluru. According to a Gogoro representative, the B2B electric two-wheeler, which has about the same power as a typical 110cc two-wheeler, will start operating in Delhi as early as December 2022.
Zypp plans to increase the number of electric two-wheelers in its fleet from 7,000 to a staggering 200,000 over the next two years. In addition, its network will increase from six cities to fifteen cities by then. Gogoro will be Zypp’s mobile partner, and will also provide the infrastructure required for the operation’s charging, primarily including battery swap stations. In Taiwan, Gogoro has rapidly expanded in just a few years, proving its utility and adaptability.
The charging station itself has a modular design and can be adjusted according to the available area. According to the brand, Taiwan has more Gogoro switching stations than Gaming stations. It also says the average time for a battery change is six seconds, which is much less than the time it takes to refuel a two-wheeler. Each device uses the grid to charge a recently replaced battery, but is also capable of self-sustaining for up to 64 hours. Even though it’s a big commitment, it should help a lot in India, where power shortages are a common problem.
Additionally, launching operations using a B2B approach will allow Zypp and Gogoro to fully evaluate their battery swap technology. In densely populated countries such as India, battery swap services have repeatedly proven to be more economically viable because not everyone has access to a home charging system. Additionally, Gogoro will be able to apply the lessons learned from its B2B initiative to its consumer electric two-wheeler, which may one day hit the Indian market.
