Gogoro has one of the slickest battery-swapping electric scooters in the world. And now you no longer have to actually buy a Gogoro scooter to experience the vehicles and their innovative battery swap stations. With the announcement of GoShare, Gogoro is entering the shared electric scooter market.
Gogoro’s new GoShare network
Gogoro just unveiled its newest addition to the company’s offerings: the GoShare network is designed to let riders rent a Gogoro electric scooter.
Gogoro has previously sold its electric scooters directly to customers in Taiwan, where the company has commanded an impressive market share. Gogoro comprises 97% of the local electric scooter market, handily squeezing out major scooter maker KYMCO. Gogoro even holds a 17% market share among all vehicles in Taiwan, including gas-powered vehicles.
Gogoro has around 1,200 battery swap stations spread around the country. While Gogoro’s scooters can travel around 80 km (50 mi) per charge, the ability swap batteries gives them essentially unlimited range.
The new GoShare program will allow riders to rent Gogoro’s scooters similar to the popular electric kick scooter sharing programs run by companies like Bird and Lime.
The first test for the GoShare program will take place in Tauyuan, Taiwan. Around 1,000 Gogoro scooters will be included in the first wave of testing.
According to Gogoro’s Founder and CEO Horace Luke:
“GoShare is the first end-to-end mobility sharing platform, and tightly integrates the Gogoro Network, Gogoro Smartscooter, and GoShare App into a powerful solution that eliminates many of the operational challenges to deliver an optimized platform that is easy for riders to use, more sustainable to operate and more viable for cities to meet their aggressive smart city goals and initiatives.”
This isn’t Gogoro’s first experiment with shared electric scooters. Gogoro’s scooters are used in the Coup scooter sharing service in Berlin and Paris, though that system isn’t operated by Gogoro.
And Gogoro isn’t even the first to roll out an electric scooter sharing program with battery charging or swap stations. KYMCO showed off its IONEX Commercial turnkey solution at the Paris Motor Show last year, though we have yet to hear about many large partnerships or trials, and KYMCO’s IONEX electric scooters maintain fairly small market share in Taiwan.
Gogoro doesn’t just have its sights set on Taiwan though. The company expects to expand within the country soon and internationally by the end of next year. A company representative told Electrek that we should expect to see the GoShare network in multiple cities around the world by the end of next year.
Electrek’s Take
Sign me up! I’m a huge fan of electric scooter sharing programs. And they are only becoming more popular. Revel in NYC just brought in 1,000 electric scooters for their scooter share program, and others such as Scoot in San Francisco and Scoobi in Pittsburgh are demonstrating success in the US.
Europe is also teeming with electric scooter share programs, indicating that there is a real desire in the market. Riders want the convenience of electric scooters without the expense of ownership, and these scooter sharing programs provide just that.
Plus you could make the argument that they are much more efficient. Instead of having tens of thousands of scooters sitting in garages and parking lots all day, you could produce far fewer and still meet the needs of the public.
I’m all for the GoShare network and others like it. I just hope Gogoro comes to a city near me soon so I can finally try one out!
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