While many people think of Gogoro as an electric scooter company, it’s perhaps more accurate to call Gogoro a battery-swapping network company that also happens to build fast and tech-savvy electric scooters. That’s because the company is becoming increasingly well-known around the globe for its battery-swapping system, especially now that those batteries are being adopted by leading global light electric vehicle manufacturers.
And while Gogoro has long been the unofficial leader in swappable batteries, the research firm Guidehouse Insights has placed Gogoro at the top of its list of global light electric vehicle battery-swapping firms.
Other companies with lesser-known battery-swapping systems such as Honda, KYMCO, and Immotor could be found lower down the list.
As Guidehouse Insights senior research analyst Ryan Citron explained:
Gogoro has differentiated itself from the competition through its early and compelling vision for light EV battery swapping. It offers an extensive product portfolio across the battery swapping supply chain, a strong track record on quality and performance in its product line, and an unmatched partner network highlighted by several of the world’s largest two-wheeler OEMs.
Gogoro founder and CEO Horace Luke expanded on the company’s feelings about nabbing the No. 1 spot.
We are honored to be recognized by Guidehouse Insights as the global leader in lightweight electric vehicle battery swapping. The Gogoro Network is a sustainable smart city battery swapping ecosystem that provides vehicles makers, riders and cities with a cleaner, faster and superior electric refueling solution. We are at a critical stage in the transformation of urban mobility and the evolution of smart cities. Delivering mass-market access to smarter fuel and more intelligent light urban vehicles that nearly a billion commuters rely on every day is key to our success as a society.
Riders can buy Gogoro’s 50+ mph (80+ km/h) seated electric scooters without batteries, then subscribe to the battery-swapping service. When the battery is nearing empty, riders simply pull into any of Gogoro’s battery-swap stations and slide in a new pack.
It’s a tried-and-true system that’s been performed over 2 million times by Gogoro’s riders.
The batteries aren’t only powering Gogoro’s scooters. Instead, they are being incorporated into various light electric vehicles built by other manufacturers. That allows such manufacturers to leapfrog forward without having to design their own battery systems. Instead, manufacturers can focus on vehicle design, letting Gogoro’s long-tested battery technology do the work of energy storage and delivery.
Electrek’s Take
It’s not like this comes as any surprise. In the battery-swapping field, Gogoro is the equivalent of back when Michael Phelps was still swimming – everyone else is simply playing for silver.
I don’t want to call myself a Gogoro fanboy, but…. I probably am. I’ve always felt that the company’s system is just so beautifully engineered. The stations are everywhere, the swapping is simple and intuitive, the network works as backup power for the local public grid in natural disasters, and the batteries themselves even look pretty darn cool.
There are other nice-looking systems out there – KYMCO’s IONEX stations look pretty snazzy and they have some nice industrial design – but Gogoro’s massive size and years of success should be the benchmark by which such battery swapping systems are judged.
A review into the BBC workplace has ruled out the presence of a “toxic” culture but says improvements could be made.
The report recommended the corporation take quicker action when staff step out of line, as well as intervening earlier and being clearer on the standards of behaviour expected from staff.
The independent report, sparked by the Huw Edwards scandal, was carried out by Change Associates, the same management consultancy that led a similar review in 2013, following the Jimmy Savile scandal.
Image: Huw Edwards was handed a six-month suspended jail sentence in September. Pic: PA
The BBC has been under pressure to act after a string of complaints against some of its top talent over the last 12 months.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has demanded the prosecution of rap trio Kneecap after video emerged of the band allegedly advocating for the death of Tory MPs.
Footage of the group at a November 2023 gig appears to show one member saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
Downing Street has described the alleged comments as “completely unacceptable”.
Police are investigating – and are also assessing footage reportedly from a gig a year later in London’s Kentish Town Forum.
In the November 2024 video, a member of the band appears to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” – referencing groups which are banned as terrorist organisations in the UK.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We were made aware of a video on 22 April, believed to be from an event in November 2024, and it has been referred to the counter-terrorism internet referral unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.
“We have also been made aware of another video believed to be from an event in November 2023.”
Mrs Badenoch said it was “good” the police were looking into the allegations, adding: “Kneecap’s glorification of terrorism and anti-British hatred has no place in our society.
“Now footage shows one of them saying: ‘The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP’.
“After the murder of Sir David Amess, this demands prosecution.”
Image: Kemi Badenoch. Pic: PA
Conservative MP Sir David was stabbed to death while meeting constituents in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in 2021.
Kneecap, made up of Liam Og O Hannaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, have said they are facing a “co-ordinated smear campaign” after speaking out about “the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people”.
Mrs Badenoch and Kneecap are already known to each other.
The Tory leader blocked a government grant to the bilingual Belfast group while she was business secretary.
But last November, Kneecap won a discrimination challenge over the decision to refuse them a £14,250 funding award after the UK government conceded it was “unlawful”.
Downing Street condemned the alleged comments.
“We do not think individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding,” the prime minister’s official spokesman said.
Asked if the money should be returned, the spokesman added: “That’s up to the group, but clearly the PM rejects the views expressed … does not shy away from condemning them.”
In October 2016, Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint – with jewellery worth millions of dollars stolen during the audacious heist in Paris.
It was the biggest robbery of an individual in France for more than 20 years – and made front pages around the world.
Now, almost a decade on, the case is finally coming to court.
Why has it taken so long? Will Kardashian give evidence? And who exactly are the “grandpa robbers” facing trial?
Here’s everything you need to know.
Image: Kardashian at the Siran Presentation on the day of the robbery. Pic: Matteo Prandoni/BFA/Shutterstock
What happened?
Two years after Kardashian and rapper Kanye West tied the knot in an ostentatious week-long celebration spanning Paris and Florence, the Kardashian-West clan were back in the French capital for Paris Fashion Week.
Her then husband had returned to the US to pick up his Saint Pablo tour – but Kardashian, along with her sister Kourtney and various members of their entourage, remained in Paris, staying in an exclusive set of apartments so discreet they’ve been dubbed the No Address Hotel.
Nestled on Tronchet Street, just a stone’s throw from Place de l’Opéra, and close to the fashionable Avenue Montaigne, the Hotel de Pourtalès is popular with A-list stars staying in the French capital.
A stay in the Sky Penthouse, the suite occupied by Kardashian, will currently set you back about £13,000 a night.
Image: Kardashian was staying at the Hotel de Pourtales
On the evening of 3 October, after attending a fashion show with her sister, Kardashian remained in the apartment alone while the rest of her convoy – including her bodyguard Pascal Duvier – went out for the night.
At about 2.30am, three armed men wearing ski masks and dressed as police forced their way into the apartment block – and according to investigators, they threatened the concierge at gunpoint.
Two of them are alleged to have forced the concierge to lead them to Kardashian’s suite. He later told police they yelled at him: “Where’s the rapper’s wife?”
Kardashian said she had been “dozing” on her bed when the men then entered her room.
She has said she believes her social media posts provided the alleged robbers with “a window of opportunity”.
“I was Snapchatting that I was home, and that everyone was going out,” she said in the months after the incident.
The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star vividly described the attack in a police report, as reported in the French weekly paper Le Journal Du Dimanche.
“They grabbed me and took me into the hallway. They tied me up with plastic cables and taped my hands, then they put tape over my mouth and my legs.”
She said they pointed a gun at her, asking specifically for her ring and also for money.
Image: Police guard the entrance to the Hotel de Pourtalès the day after the robbery
Kardashian says they carried her into the bathroom and put her in the bathtub. She said she was wearing only a bathrobe at the time.
She had initially thought the robbers “were terrorists who had come to kidnap me”, according to a French police report taken in New York three months after the robbery.
Kardashian told officers: “I thought I was going to die.”
According to police, the robbers – who left the room after grabbing their haul, escaped on bicycles with items estimated to be worth about $10m (£7.5m), including a $4m (£3m) 18.88-carat diamond engagement ring from West.
After they had left, Kardashian said she escaped her restraints and went to find help. After speaking to detectives, she immediately returned to the US on a private jet and later hired a completely new security team.
Image: Kardashian shows off her $4m ring on Instagram
What was stolen?
As well as her engagement ring, Kardashian said the thieves took her large Louis Vuitton jewellery box, which she said contained “everything I owned”.
In police reports given to the French authorities at about 4.30am on the night of the alleged robbery, Kardashian listed these items as having been stolen:
• Two diamond Cartier bracelets • A gold and diamond Jacob necklace • Diamond earrings by Lauren Schwartz • Yanina earrings • Three gold Jacob necklaces • Little bracelets, jewels and rings • A Lauren Schwartz diamond necklace • A necklace with six little diamonds • A necklace with Saint spelt out in diamonds • A cross-shaped diamond-encrusted Jacob cross • A yellow gold Rolex watch • Two yellow gold rings • An iPhone 6 and a BlackBerry
Police recovered only the diamond-encrusted cross that was dropped by the robbers while leaving.
It’s likely the gold in the haul was melted down and resold, while the diamond engagement ring that is now so associated with the robbery would be far too recognisable to sell on the open market.
Image: Kardashian at the Siran Presentation on the day of the robbery. Matteo Prandoni/BFA/Shutterstock
What will happen in court?
The hearing will begin at the Court of Appeal of Paris – the largest appeals court in France – on 28 April and is scheduled to last a month.
It will consist of a presiding judge, two professional assessors, and six main jurors.
The hearing involves more than 2,000 documents and there are four civil parties.
Image: Kardashian at the Balenciaga show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Pixelformula/Sipa/Shutterstock
Who is being tried?
There were initially 12 defendants in the case, but one person has died and another has a medical condition that prevents their involvement. This means 10 people – nine men and one woman – are standing trial.
Five of them, who were all aged between 60 and 72 at the time of the incident, face armed robbery and kidnapping charges. They are:
• Yunice Abbas • Aomar Ait Khedache • Harminv Ait Khedache • Didier Dubreucq • Marc-Alexandre Boyer
Abbas, 72, has admitted his participation in the robbery. In 2021, he published a book about the robbery, titled I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian. In 2021, a court ruled he would not benefit financially from the book.
Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, known to French crime reporters as “Old Omar”, has also admitted participating in the heist but denies the prosecution’s accusation that he was the ringleader.
The remaining five defendants are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon. They are:
• Florus Heroui • Gary Mader • Christiane Glotin • François Delaporte • Marc Boyer
Among those, Mader was a VIP greeter who worked for the car company Kardashian used in Paris, and Heroui was a bar manager who allegedly passed on information about Kardashian’s movements.
With many of the accused now ageing and with various serious health conditions, and some having spent time in jail following their arrest, all are currently free under judicial supervision.
If found guilty, those accused of the more serious crimes could face 10 years to life imprisonment.
Image: Kardashian at the Off-White show three days before the robbery. Pic: Photo Image Press/Shutterstock
Will Kardashian give evidence?
Yes, Kardashian will face the robbers in court.
Lawyer Michael Rhodes said Kardashian has “tremendous appreciation and admiration for the French judicial system” and “wishes for the trial to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case”.
A trainee lawyer herself, Kardashian has become a high-profile criminal justice advocate in the US in recent years.
Image: (R-L) Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner in the front row three days before the robbery. Pic: Caroline Blumberg/EPA/Shutterstock
Why has it taken so long to come to court?
There was initially a manhunt after the robbery, with French police under pressure to prove that Paris’s security was not in question.
Just the year before in 2015, the capital had been shaken by terrorist attacks by Islamic militants, in which 130 people were killed, including 90 at a music event at the Bataclan theatre.
French police initially arrested 17 people in the Kardashian case in January 2017 – three months after the robbery – assisted by DNA traces found on plastic bands used to tie her wrists. Twelve people were later charged.
It was ordered to be sent to trial in 2021 – at a time when limited court proceedings were happening due to multiple COVID lockdowns, and France was holding its largest ever criminal trial over the November 2015 terror attacks.
Image: Kardashian at the Givenchy show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Bukajlo Frederic/Sipa/Shutterstock
What has Kardashian said about the incident?
Kardashian has described the robbery as a “life-changing” moment. She took three weeks away from filming her reality TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and took a three-month break from social media.
In a March 2017 episode titled Paris, Kardashian first spoke publicly about her ordeal.
She described first hearing a noise in her apartment, and calling out, thinking it was her sister and assistant: “At that moment when there wasn’t an answer, my heart started to get really tense. Like, you know, your stomach just kind of like, knots up and you’re like, ‘OK, what’s going on?’ I knew something wasn’t quite right.”
She went on: “They asked for money. I said, ‘I don’t have any money’. They dragged me out to the hallway on top of the stairs. That’s when I saw the gun, clear as day. I was looking at the gun, looking down back at the stairs. I was like, I have a split second in my mind to make this quick decision.
“Either they’re going to shoot me in the back or if I make it [down the stairs] and the elevator does not open in time or the stairs are locked, there’s no way out.”
Three months later, she told a Forbes Power Women’s Summit she had changed her approach to posting on social media: “They had followed my moves on social media, and they knew my every move and what I had.”
She added: “It was definitely a huge, huge, huge lesson for me to not show off some of the things that I have. It was a huge lesson to me to not show off where I go.
“It’s just changed my whole life, but I think for the better.”
Image: West and Kardashian at the Off-White show three days before the robbery. Pic: Matteo Prandoni/BFA/Shutterstock
In October 2020, Kardashian told US interviewer David Letterman she feared she would be raped and murdered during the heist, and that her sister had been at the forefront of her mind during the incident.
Speaking on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Kardashian said: “I kept on thinking about Kourtney, I kept on thinking she’s going to come home and I’m going to be dead in the room and she’s going to be traumatised for the rest of her life if she sees me… I thought that was my fate.”
When speaking to French police about the impact the robbery had had on her three months after it, Kardashian said: “I think that my perception of jewellery now is that I am not as attached to it as I used to be. I don’t have the same feeling about it. In fact, I even think that it has become a bit of a burden to have the responsibility of such expensive jewels.
“There is nothing of sentimental value to compare with the act of going home and finding one’s children and one’s family.”
She went on to describe Paris as “not the right place” for her, and didn’t return to the French capital for two years following the robbery.
Kardashian has since said in a 2023 episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that she did not purchase any jewellery in the seven years following the robbery, kept no jewellery at her home and only wore items that are either borrowed or fake.
She said the realisation that material items don’t matter has made her “a completely different person in the best way”.
