Battery-swapping leader Gogoro has just inked a new deal to see thousands of new battery-swapping GoStations added to the company’s existing force of swap stations already operating around Asia and the Middle East.
The announcement is part of a Memorandum of Understanding with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL), a prominent Indian oil company with over 21,000 retail outlets.
Gogoro has been pushing hard into India as part of the company’s global expansion. Founded in Taiwan in 2011, Gogoro’s electric vehicle line consists of sleekly designed smart electric scooters that have received wide acclaim for their IoT connectivity and user-friendly interface.
However, what truly sets Gogoro apart is its pioneering battery-swapping infrastructure, designed to alleviate range anxiety and charging time issues associated with electric vehicles. Gogoro’s existing network of thousands of battery-swapping stations spread across over a half dozen countries allows users to quickly exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones, facilitating more convenient and efficient urban transportation.
The company also licenses its battery-swapping platform to other manufacturers, creating a more sustainable and accessible energy ecosystem for two-wheeled vehicles in urban settings. Major manufacturers such as Yamaha have already produced multiple electric scooters that use Gogoro’s swappable batteries, and we’ve even recently seen concept electric cars that use Gogoro’s batteries for additional easy-swapping power.
India represents an ideal expansion opportunity for Gogoro as the country has already embraced two-wheeled transport as the leading mode of travel and has the largest two-wheeler market in the world. The company also recently unveiled a new electric scooter designed for more rugged and off-road travel, which could also be perfect for many areas of India with varying levels of road infrastructure.
Earlier this year, Gogoro announced a $1.5 billion “Ultra Mega Project” in India that would see the company’s most significant expansion to date. The new partnership with HPCL represents the next major step in Gogoro’s wide scale expansion in the country.
As Gogoro founder and CEO Horace Luke explained:
“India is in the early stages of a massive electric transformation of its urban two-wheel transportation system, and it is increasingly evident that battery swapping is a critical component to broad adoption, so building out the swapping infrastructure is crucial. Today, we are announcing a partnership with HPCL, one of India’s leading oil companies, to rollout thousands of Gogoro battery swapping stations across its retail outlets throughout the country in the coming years. There is nowhere on earth that needs smart electric transportation more than India, and Gogoro is joining together with the Indian business community and national and local governments to deploy a battery swapping and electric vehicle ecosystem that is open, accessible and scalable.”
Oil companies worldwide have increasingly shown interest in expanding into alternative energy infrastructure. This isn’t even Gogoro’s first rodeo with such a partner. When the battery-swapping company brought its electric scooters to Israel last year, Gogoro partnered with a local energy company to see its GoStations installed at many gas stations in the country, several of which already have DC Fast Charging stations for electric cars and trucks.
That focus on sustainability is essential, as Director of Marketing at HPCL Amit Garg explained:
“HPCL and Gogoro are partnering to develop a broad battery swapping infrastructure for two-wheel vehicles that will both grow and sustain a leading electric vehicle ecosystem in India that is safe, clean and readily available across India’s cities. Gogoro has demonstrated its global leadership in battery swapping and electric two-wheel innovation and with nearly 500 million battery swaps to date has developed a platform we can embrace and emulate.”
Author: Micah Toll
Source: Electrek
