Gogoro is launching its Smartscooters and battery-swapping technology in Tel Aviv this summer, with plans to expand into other Israeli cities in the future, the company said on Wednesday.
The news follows Gogoro’s public debut via a SPAC merger last month. At the time, founder and CEO Horace Luke told TechCrunch the company would focus its expansion plans on dense Asian cities where two-wheeled vehicles are already popular. At the same time, Luke said Gogoro would continue to grow in its home market of Taiwan, as well as in newer and larger markets like China, India and Indonesia.
Similar to Gogoro’s moves in other markets, Gogoro is partnering with local companies that have existing infrastructure and resources to make for an easier launch. In China, that was Yadea and Dachangjiang Group, two Chinese motorcycle manufacturers, and in India it was two-wheel maker Hero MotoCorp. For its Israeli expansion, Gogoro is partnering with two-wheel distributor Metro Motor and gas and energy company Paz Group, the company said.
Gogoro’s partnerships in China and India involve those brands selling their own scooters that have been decked out with Gogoro’s technology and components. However in Israel, Gogoro will sell its proprietary Smartscooters — specifically the S2 ABS and 2 Plus, to start — through Metro Motor, according to a spokesperson for Gogoro.
Paz will deploy the Gogoro Network GoStations at its gas stations and other appropriate consumer-centric locations, said Gogoro, noting that it plans to start with 10 battery-swapping stations, or GoStations, at launch, and will expand to 35 this year.
“We are excited to be launching in Israel, one of the most innovative and technology-forward countries in the world to establish a new era of urban two-wheel mobility,” said Luke in a statement. “Gogoro was created to introduce a mass market shift to sustainable energy in densely populated cities by establishing an intelligent urban ecosystem that introduces a new refueling system for electric two-wheel vehicles.”
Today, Gogoro manages more than 350,000 battery swaps per day, said Luke, noting that the company had exceeded 275 million battery swaps since 2015.
