How Gogoro is making the world’s largest EV battery swapping network greener

With Gogoro already surpassing one million swappable EV batteries in circulation, the company’s energy network has become something of a de facto standard in swappable batteries for e-motorcycles and scooters. Now, the company is announcing the next phase of its expansive GoStation network, rolling out over a dozen new 100% renewable energy-powered stations.

There are over 2,000 of those bright green and white GoStations around Gogoro’s domestic market of Taiwan, with even more spread across several Asian countries.

The newest update to the stations, just announced today, includes 15 brand new GoStations that are powered by 100% clean energy sources. That means not only are the electric scooters that use those stations producing zero emissions while in use, but the electricity powering them doesn’t require any emissions in the generation stage either.

The announcement was made jointly by Gogoro and the semiconductor giant TSMC, which also announced the expansion of Gogoro’s GoShare e-scooter service in TSMC’s headquarters city of Hsinchu as well as upgrading and expanding the Gogoro Network in Hsinchu.

“Gogoro and TSMC are continuing to take leadership roles in Taiwan to drive new initiatives that enable residents to utilize sustainable two-wheel transportation across the island. I applaud TSMC’s commitment to the energy transition and introducing new thinking regarding clean energy utilization,” said Horace Luke, founder and CEO of Gogoro. “As industry leaders and innovators, we call on all Taiwan businesses and individuals to embrace sustainable thinking and make smart choices with their energy usage. Together we can have a positive impact on Taiwan and future generations.”

“TSMC actively collaborates with stakeholders to face the challenges of climate change and advance towards a net-zero future,” said Lora Ho, senior vice president and ESG Committee Chairperson at TSMC. “We’re happy to work with Gogoro once again to apply our green experience in Taichung to Hsinchu, and promote clean energy adoption through GoShare shared vehicles and green energy battery swapping stations across Taiwan. We hope the public will be able to realize zero-carbon transportation in their commuting and travel, and drive beautiful changes together.”

The scooters usined in the GoShare sharing network are Gogoro’s own vehicles, though the company has also opened up its network to allow other motorcycle and scooter manufacturers to build consumer models that are powered by Gogoro’s batteries. Around a dozen non-Gogoro electric scooter models currently make use of the standard battery packs found at thousands of existing battery swap stations. The battery packs also have several other stationary uses, such as powering smart parking meters in Taipei and serving as battery backups for intersection traffic lights.

The vast network of GoStations is responsible for nearly half a million battery swaps per day, and have successfully completed over half a billion battery swaps since operations began nearly a decade ago.

Impressively, the company has found that the batteries are expected to last for over a decade before being transferred to secondary life uses such as stationary storage. Because the packs are often swapped before being completely discharged and can be optimally charged in each GoStation using the most efficient charging program possible for each pack, their lifespans are proving even longer than originally anticipated.

The 15 new 100% clean energy-powered GoStations announced today are described as a “first wave”, indicating more are likely to follow soon.

For now, the initial stations are being installed in Taipei and several other major Taiwan cities. The network extends island-wide though, meaning riders can theoretically ride the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) loop around Taiwan purely by swapping batteries along the way.