Gogoro’s battery-swapping electric scooters begin operations in Singapore
Gogoro, widely considered to be the world leader in battery swapping for light electric vehicles like e-motorbikes, has just launched operations in its latest global expansion to Singapore. A new partnership will now see Gogoro’s battery-swapping technology deployed for food delivery.
Gogoro and Cycle & Carriage Singapore (C&C) have announced a partnership with food delivery service foodpanda for a battery swapping scooter pilot. The partnership comes after the Singapore Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) announcement last year that it awarded Gogoro and C&C with a battery-swapping sandbox pilot for electric two-wheeled vehicles.
The electric scooters are ideal for commercial use such as delivery scooters like these that are in operation throughout the day. Gogoro scooters don’t need to stop and charge their batteries since the company is built upon its in-house battery-swapping architecture. That allows scooter riders to spend just a few seconds swapping batteries instead of many hours charging them.
The companies involved in the partnership explained that the pilot operated with foodpanda will offer insights that will be used to accelerate the adoption of sustainable mobility as Singapore moves toward a transportation system using cleaner and more sustainable energy.
As Gogoro’s founder and CEO Horace Luke expanded:
With more than 26 percent of all daily quick deliveries in Taiwan enabled by Gogoro battery swapping, I am excited to be introducing our battery swapping and vehicle technologies in Singapore with two market-leading partners like Cycle & Carriage Singapore and foodpanda. Cities like Singapore are at an inflection point of sustainability and are beginning to embrace sustainable transportation in new impactful ways. On average, last mile delivery riders ride more than six-times the distance as consumer riders, so enabling these delivery riders to adopt smart sustainable electric transportation can have an accelerated impact on a city.
The pilot will operate with Gogoro 2 electric scooters that use the company’s G2 Motor, described as a “hyper-efficient, water-cooled motor delivering incredible and efficient power and performance with a maximum speed of 90km/h.”
The scooters also use Gogoro’s FLO Drive system, which is based around a Gates Carbon Drive belt setup that reduces noise and removes maintenance associated with chain drives.
The Gogoro 2 holds a pair of Gogoro’s approximately 1.7 kWh batteries, whose combined 3.4 kWh capacity offers an estimated city range of up to 100 km (60 miles). The company says that six seconds is all that is needed to swap out the batteries for another 100 km of range.
I own a Gogoro S2 Performance electric scooter that I use as my daily driver, and in practice I find that the swap takes closer to 30 seconds when you include parking, opening the battery compartment, etc. But even 30 seconds is still blazing fast to completely top up the scooter’s “tank,” and is of course even faster than filling up a fuel tank on a combustion scooter – not to mention cleaner and nicer smelling!
In my city, Gogoro scooters are available both for purchase by private owners as well as for commercial use by delivery couriers. I frequently see them used in both roles, each with unique advantages. Commuters never have to worry about finding a place to charge, which is a serious concern in densely populated cities where many apartment dwellers lack a parking spot with a charging plug. Delivery riders don’t have to stop and charge for hours, which would impact their earnings.
Gogoro has aggressively expanded its operations to locations including India, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, China and more, though the competition seems to have taken notice. Battery swapping has become a key focus of other companies, including KYMCO’s Ionex electric scooter and battery platform, as well as brand-agnostic battery swapping services like Vammo (previously Leoparda). But as others enter the market, they’ll have to compete with Gogoro’s massive first mover advantage. The Gogoro Network currently supports more than 524,000 riders and boasts more than 1.1 million smart batteries in circulation. Those batteries account for over 370 million swaps to date across the company’s 12,200 battery swapping GoStations at over 2,504 locations, which have been responsible for saving more than 250,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Environment
Google to invest $25 billion in data centers and AI infrastructure across largest U.S. electric grid
Locals call him the “Bicycle hero,” but Texas man Evan Wayne says he’s just doing what he can to help his community after it was cut off due to the recent devastating and deadly flooding tragedy.
When the local Sandy Creek flooded following torrential rains in Texas, it destroyed the only bridge into one community. Residents were cut off from access to supplies, including everything from necessities like food, water, and medicine to basic comforts.
Although the bridge was impassable to cars, volunteers who quickly organized to help the stranded residents found that the damaged bridge could still be traversed on foot. Or in the case of Evan Wayne, it could be covered by an electric bike.
Evan joined hundreds of volunteers who answered the call of grassroots organizers by working together without any official capacity. While many started by hand-pulling garden carts of supplies uphill to reach the stricken community, Evan jury-rigged a trailer to an e-bike and took on as much of the load as he could, helping shuttle much-needed food and gear into the community over hundreds of round-trip journeys.
“This was a dog trailer 48 hours ago. I had a hacksaw, hacked the top off, grabbed some bungee cords, and here we are,” explained Evan in an interview with CBS Austin, while waiting for the next load of gear to be stacked on his trailer.
In the first two days of the operation, he made around 100 round trips each day, shuttling food and water as well as critical rescue supplies. “Right now, I’m waiting on a couple of chainsaws that I’ll bring in for a crew that’s been going at it with handsaws so far.”
In addition to delivering needed supplies, Evan has often found himself moving something even more important: information. “I’ve flagged down medics. I’ve been the guy that goes between Austin EMT and STAR Flight because I’m quicker than cell phones sometimes, people don’t have signal a lot of the time.”
Evan quickly points out that he isn’t the only one helping. “I’ve got an e-bike, but other people are pulling carts. People are walking, people are carrying things. Everyone is doing what they can.” But there’s no doubt that his ability to carry more gear at higher speeds and make hundreds of round-trip journeys so far in and out of the stricken neighborhood has helped impact countless lives.
“This is all volunteers here. They’re just taking it upon themselves to get people where they need to go. I think there’s an umbrella company coming in, taking over tomorrow, but until they get here, people are just taking care of people, which is what you’ve got to do.”
E-bikes proving their worth in emergencies
While many people consider electric bicycles just another form of recreation, they’ve proven to be potent transportation alternatives after natural disasters worldwide.
Not only do their small and efficient batteries make performing hundreds of rescue trips like Evans’ possible, but recharging can be done simply and easily with a solar panel when electricity is out after a disaster. And when gas stations are out of fuel (or simply can’t pump it with the power grid down), e-bikes can keep running while gasoline-powered motorcycles or ATVs run dry.
Electric bicycle batteries have also proven to be a handy source of emergency power after hurricanes and other disasters, often helping owners keep their phones charged up for days to remain in contact with family or rescue services.
While most hope to never need theirs for emergency purposes, electric bicycles have proven their worth in countless disaster scenarios, adding benefits far beyond just alternative transportation, recreation, or fitness riding.
Image credits: CBS Austin (screenshots), used under fair use
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies during a remote video hearing held by subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on “Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation” in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2021.
Handout | Via Reuters
Block jumped more than 5% on Monday, leading a rally in shares of fintech companies as analysts downplayed the threat of JPMorgan Chase’s reported plan to charge data aggregators for access to customer financial information.
The recovery followed steep declines on Friday, after Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan had circulated pricing sheets outlining potential fees for aggregators like Plaid and Yodlee, which connect fintech platforms to users’ bank data.
In a note to clients on Monday, Evercore ISI analysts said the potential new expenses were “far from a ‘business model-breaking’ cost increase.”
In addition to Block’s rise, PayPal climbed 3.5% on Monday after sliding Friday. Robinhood and Shift4 recorded modest gains.
Broader market momentum helped fuel some of the rebound. The Nasdaq closed at a record, and crypto rallied, with bitcoin climbing past $123,000. Ether, solana, and other altcoins also gained.
Evercore ISI’s analysts said that even if JPMorgan’s changes were implemented, the most immediate effect would be a slight bump in the cost of one-time account setups — perhaps 50 to 60 cents.
Morgan Stanley echoed that view, writing that any impact would be “negligible,” especially for large fintechs that rely more on debit, credit, or stored balances than bank account pulls for transactions.
PayPal doesn’t anticipate much short-term impact, according to a person with knowledge of the issue. The person, who asked not to be named in order to speak about private financial matters, noted that PayPal relies on aggregators primarily for account verification and already has long-term pricing contracts in place.
While smaller fintechs that depend heavily on automated clearing house (ACH) rails or Open Banking frameworks for onboarding and compliance may face real pressure if the fees take effect, analysts said the larger platforms are largely insulated.
WATCH: Congress moves to redraw $3.7 trillion crypto market rules, opening door to Wall Street
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike