Most of us think about a charging socket whenever we hear about “electric” scooter. Almost all electric scooters need charging via a power cable but looks like a young Taiwanese company has a better solution.
At the ongoing consumer electric show, a new electric scooter called the Gogoro smartscooter has been unveiled. With its futuristic design elements, the scooter could easily win the best looking electric scooter award. However, the Gogoro will be known for something unique. Instead of plugging in the scooter at the end of the day to charge its battery, Gogoro is betting on the batteries that riders would swap at GoStations. The company will set up a Gogoro Energy Network in cities where it launches its scooter.
The Gogoro Smartscooter is powered by a liquid-cooled permanent magnet synchronous motor which delivers 8.6bhp of power and about 24Nm of torque. The company claims a top speed of 96kmph and a range of 100km, which is pretty good. The batteries used in this scooter are manufactured by Panasonic and are housed under the seat and can be easily removed , thanks to the green handle on the top. The battery also identifies the user and also stores diagnostics information about the scooter. The batteries come with 25 sensors, NFC connectivity and 256-bit security encryption.
Users will be able to swap their empty batteries with fully charged ones at a GoStation and the company says the process would take about six seconds to complete. Users will be able to reserve their batteries at a nearby GoStation from their smartphone app 10 minutes in advance. The company hasn’t said anything about the price, but expect it not to come cheap.
