Commuters riding motorbikes to work queueing along a street in Taipei. According to government sales figures, ebikes now make up about 21% of all motorbikes in Taiwan, with sales of traditional petrol models in double-digit decline annually. — AFP
TAIPEI: Every day, Aiden Lee joins the hundreds of thousands of people getting around Taipei on two wheels.
But when most of his fellow riders head to a petrol pump to refuel, he takes his emotorbike to one of Taiwan’s increasingly commonplace battery-swapping stations – tech its creators say could supercharge the shift from fossil fuels.
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Commuters riding motorbikes to work queueing along a street in Taipei. According to government sales figures, ebikes now make up about 21% of all motorbikes in Taiwan, with sales of traditional petrol models in double-digit decline annually. — AFP
Luke posing for photos during an interview at the company’s headquarters in Taipei. — AFP
Luke during an interview at Gogoro’s headquarters in Taipei. Now eyeing regional expansion and a New York listing, Gogoro has more than 2,300 stations outside convenience stores or in car parks across Taiwan, where ebike riders stop to exchange depleted batteries for freshly charged cells. — AFP
Luke said that, through local partnerships, Gogoro was moving to expand into the world’s largest motorbike markets: China, India and Indonesia – all countries with smog-choked cities. — AFP
Battery swapping tech works better for mopeds, said Luke, as the batteries and stations need not be so large. — AFP
Batteries designed by Gogoro, a Taiwanese company that developed a battery-swapping refuelling platform for urban electric two-wheel scooters, mopeds and motorcycles, at the company's headquarters in Taipei. — AFP
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