As massive earthquake rocks Taiwan and shutters trains, battery-swapping e-scooters rush in
The largest earthquake to hit Taiwan this century rattled the entire island overnight, collapsing buildings, damaging roads, and shutting down train and subway services. Gogoro’s electric scooters quickly picked up the slack, providing a key accessible transportation option and offering free rides in the most populated area.
Earthquakes are a regular occurrence in Taiwan but are usually much lower-intensity tremblors. This morning’s 7.4 magnitude quake is the largest to impact the island in 25 years.
The quake struck just off the east coast of Taiwan at 07:58 local time, as rush hour picked up and millions of commuters were traveling to work.
According to the Associated Press, “Traffic along the east coast was at a virtual standstill after the earthquake, with landslides and falling debris hitting tunnels and highways. Train service was suspended across the island of 23 million people, with some tracks twisted by the stress of the quake, as was subway service in Taipei, where sections of a newly constructed elevated line split apart but did not collapse.”
Scooters are the most efficient form of transportation in Taiwan, where they outnumber cars 2:1. They can still maneuver past standstill traffic like the island saw in many cases this morning, as well as navigate narrower passable sections of damaged roads. At a time when train, subway, and bus services are cut off in natural disasters, scooters become a lifeline for those needing access to quick transportation.
Gogoro, the largest electric scooter maker in Taiwan and operator of a massive distributed battery-swapping network, is no stranger to such emergencies. The company’s electric scooter batteries also serve as emergency backups to around 20% of traffic lights in Taipei, keeping them running during massive power outages.
In one such nationwide power outage in 2022, gas stations couldn’t pump fuel yet Gogoro’s GoStations ensured that riders of electric scooters never lost power or the ability to swap in freshly-charged batteries.
Thousands of such battery-swapping stations dot the island, each holding dozens or hundreds of swappable batteries. Riders simply roll up, swap their partially depleted batteries for freshly charged batteries, and roll out in seconds.
The company reported that its GoStation network, which is constantly monitored from a command center that tracks operations as well as weather patterns and massive events, never ceased operations throughout this morning’s quake and its aftermath.
The company also operates a GoShare network of shared electric scooters. It normally requires a membership that allows riders to hop on one of countless green electric scooters. Gogoro announced this morning that it was opening up the network to provide free GoShare rides to residents of Taipei and New Taipei City, the island’s largest metropolitan area. As of the time of publishing, the area has yet to regain metro operations after MRT shuttered train services in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Electrek’s Take
I’m shocked by the devastation seen in Taiwan, which has rattled me even further as I just returned from the island less than three days before the earthquake hit. I’ve already seen pictures of rubble where I had recently been standing. I also had spent days there riding the very electric scooters that are right now providing one of the only forms of transit available to millions of people, so I have a keen sense of just how important they are now for anyone seeking emergency services or needing to find family.
Having seen just how hard Taiwan can be to navigate by car even in the best of times, I can tell you that much if it will be impassible to four-wheeled vehicles right now. Scooters were already the only realistic way to get around dense areas of the island at certain times of the day (see the video below that I shot just days ago above New Taipei City). Now, more than ever, they’ll be the only way to quickly navigate much of Taiwan.
At times when even combustion engine scooters are limited by the availability and access to gasoline, these electric scooters keep moving and maintain access to battery-swapping stations that are abundant as every 200 meters (650 feet) in cities. There are even enough swapping stations to completely circumnavigate 1,000 km (600 mile) around the island.
It’s nice to see electric car companies offer free charging during disasters, but the benefit is largely meaningless. In the space that a GoStation can keep hundreds of scooters running, you could fit two or three Teslas supercharging, for example.
Today’s events were a potent reminder of the potential of widely distributed battery swapping stations like Gogoro’s and the mass adoption of light, efficient electric vehicles that use them – but a reminder that we nonetheless wish we didn’t have to receive.
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![Stig drifts 2,000 hp electric Ford Supervan around Top Gear test track [video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/stig_vs_supervan.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
The Top Gear TV show might be over, but its tamed racing driver – a masked, anonymous hot shoe known only as “the Stig” – lives on … and his latest adventure involves pitching the 1,400 hp electric Ford SuperVan demonstration vehicle around the famed Top Gear test track. Sideways.
Whether we’re talking about record lap times at hallowed motorsports grounds like Bathhurst or the Hillclimb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, we’ve been covering the 1,400 hp SuperVan project for some time – but the big boxy Transit-ish racing van with hypercar-slaying performance never seems to get boring.
In this video from the official Top Gear YouTube channel (is Top Gear just a YouTube show, now?), the boxy Ford racer seems to have sprouted an additional 600 peak horsepower in its latest “4.2” iteration, for a stout 2,000 hp total. For his (?) part, the Stig puts all of those horses to work in what appears to be a serious attempt to take the overall track record.
I won’t spoil the outcome for you, but suffice it to say that even the most die-hard anti-EV hysterics will have to admit that SuperVan is a seriously quick machine.
SuperVan 4.2: How fast can a 2000 hp transit go?
[SPOILERS AHEAD] Even with 2,000 hp, instant torque, and over 4,000 lbs. of aerodynamic downforce, the SuperVan wasn’t able to beat the long-standing 1st and 2nd place spots held by the Renault R24 (a legit Formula 1 race car) and the Lotus T125 Exos (a track-only special that sure looks like a legit Formula 1 race car), but after crossing the line with a time of 1:05.3, the Ford claims third place on the overall leaderboard.
That 3rd place is likely to be a permanent spot on Top Gear‘s leaderboard, as well – as the track itself is likely to be demolished somewhat sooner than later.
You can check out the video (above) and watch the whole segment for yourself, or just skip ahead to the eight-minute mark to watch the tire-shredding sideways action promised in the headline. If you do, let us know what you think of Ford’s fast “van” in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Top Gear.
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Swedish multinational Sandvik says it’s successfully deployed a pair of fully autonomous Toro LH518iB battery-electric underground loaders at the New Gold Inc. ($NGD) New Afton mine in British Columbia, Canada.
The heavy mining equipment experts at Sandvik say that the revolutionary new 18 ton loaders have been in service since mid-November, working in a designated test area of the mine’s “Lift 1” footwall. The mine’s operators are preparing to move the automated machines to the mine’s “C-Zone” any time now, putting them into regular service by the first of the new year.
“This is a significant milestone for Canadian mining, as these are North America’s first fully automated battery-electric loaders,” Sandvik said in a LinkedIn post. “(The Toro LH518iB’s) introduction highlights the potential of automation and electrification in mining.”
The company says the addition of the new heavy loaders will enable New Afton’s operations to “enhance cycle times and reduce heat, noise and greenhouse gas emissions” at the block cave mine – the only such operation (currently) in Canada.
Electrek’s Take
From drilling and rigging to heavy haul solutions, companies like Sandvik are proving that electric equipment is more than up to the task of moving dirt and pulling stuff out of the ground. At the same time, rising demand for nickel, lithium, and phosphates combined with the natural benefits of electrification are driving the adoption of electric mining machines while a persistent operator shortage is boosting demand for autonomous tech in those machines.
The combined factors listed above are rapidly accelerating the rate at which machines that are already in service are becoming obsolete – and, while some companies are exploring the cost/benefit of converting existing vehicles to electric or, in some cases, hydrogen, the general consensus seems to be that more companies will be be buying more new equipment more often in the years ahead.
What’s more, more of that equipment will be more and more likely to be autonomous as time goes on.
We covered the market outlook for autonomous and electric mining equipment earlier this summer, and I posted an episode exploring the growing demand for electric equipment on an episode of Quick Charge I’ve embedded, below. Check it out, then let us know what you think of the future of electric mining in the comments.
More EVs means more mines, equipment
SOURCE | IMAGES: Sandvik, via LinkedIn.
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European logistics firm Contargo is adding twenty of Mercedes’ new, 600 km-capable eActros battery electric semi trucks to its trimodal delivery fleet, bringing zero-emission shipping to Germany’s hinterland.
With over 300 miles of all-electric range, the new Mercedes eActros 600 electric semi truck was designed for (what a European would call) long-haul trucking. Now, after officially entering production at the company’s Wörth plant in Bavaria last month, the eActros 600 is reaching its first customer: Contargo.
With the addition of the twenty new Mercedes, Contargo’s electric truck fleet has grown to 60 BEVs, with plans to increase that total to 90. And, according to Mercedes, Contargo is just the first.
The German truck company says it has plans to deliver fifty (50) of the 600 kWh battery-equipped electric semi trucks to German shipping companies by the close of 2024.
Contargo’s 20 eActros 600 trucks were funded in part by the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport as part of a broader plan to replace a total of 86 diesel-engined commercial vehicles with more climate-friendly alternatives. The funding directive is coordinated by NOW GmbH, and the applications were approved by the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility.
Electrek’s Take
Electric semi trucks are racking up millions of miles in the US, and abroad. As more and more pilot programs begin to pay off, they’re going to lead to more orders for battery electric trucks and more reductions in both diesel demand and harmful carbon emissions.
We can’t wait to see more.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Contargo, via Electrive.
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