Gogoro reveals details for its next big battery-swapping e-scooter expansion

After announcing plans for expanding into the Nepalese market earlier this year, Gogoro is back with updated details for the October launch of commercial operations.

The battery-swapping giant that boasts hundreds of thousands of daily battery swaps across Asia is gearing up to see Nepal join its ranks soon for commercial operations.

Alongside Nebula Energy, Gogoro announced today that those operations were slated to begin this October, following the installation of 45 battery swapping stations in Kathmandu.

Of course, this isn’t Gogoro’s first run in Nepal. Nebula Energy and Gogoro have partnered on a pilot program that began in April of this year. But now the two companies are announcing the introduction of a pair of new Gogoro Smartscooters to Nepal—the Pulse and JEGO—in addition to the existing CrossOver GX250.

The Gogoro Crossover GX250 electric scooter was launched late last year and has been referred to as the first two-wheeled SUV for its utility design that enables heavier cargo-duty and off-road riding. Both are key features for the Nepal market.

The Pulse is Gogoro’s highest-performance electric scooter to date, and one that I had the chance to test ride recently. On the other end of Gogoro’s product lineup, the JEGO is an affordable entry-level model designed to bring Gogoro’s technology and battery swapping to more riders at a more attractive price point. The scooter smashed sales records for the company upon its debut earlier this year.

“Nepal is at the forefront of clean energy generation and utilization and is providing significant incentives for electric two-wheel vehicles adoption. Together, Gogoro and Nebula Energy are working to accelerate adoption by launching Gogoro battery swapping and Smartscooters in the Kathmandu Valley with a plan to eventually have more battery swapping stations than gas stations,” said Horace Luke, founder and CEO of Gogoro. “We are excited to be a part of Nepal’s sustainable transportation transformation and look forward to having our new Gogoro Pulse and JEGO on the streets of Kathmandu soon.”

Sahayu Goyal, the Managing Director of Nebula, added “The mass-scale adoption of EVs in the two-wheeler segment must be enabled through technology. The Gogoro range of Smartscooters powered by Gogoro battery-swapping provides a unique solution that addresses the major challenges faced by consumers when deciding to buy an electric two-wheeler today.”

According to Nebula, the current layout of 45 Gogoro battery swapping stations in the Kathmandu Valley will ensure that riders are never more than 2-3 kilometers (1.2-1.8 miles) from a station. Eventually, the energy company plans to see the number of installed battery swap stations outnumber gas stations in the region.

Gogoro spent years dominating its local Taiwanese market, racking up hundreds of millions of battery swaps. Now the company has aggressively expanded its operations into new markets, primarily in Asia but also expanding into the Middle East and the Americas.

Gogoro is currently operational in Taiwan, The Philippines, Mainland China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Israel, Singapore, Colombia and Nepal.