Gogoro India is exploring introduction of its franchise battery swap station model in India. If things work out, this will translate into business opportunities for individuals and institutions in setting up Gogoro-branded battery swap stations.
Kaushik Burman, General Manager & MD (India), Gogoro told Mobility Outlook that the franchise battery swap station model is clearly a good way to grow on the infrastructure side. “A one-man show cannot scale up the battery swap market in a country as large as India. We want to learn a lot from the pilot we are doing.”
The sites for these battery swap stations will be finalised by the Gogoro India team and the fleet company using the platform. Gogoro’s typical battery swap station contains 13 batteries, and its size allows it to be set up even in space-constrained places.
Focus On B2B
Right now, the company is more focused on the B2B side of last-mile deliveries and open to collaborating with logistics players operating in the arena. According to Gogoro, about 95% of two-wheelers used in last-mile logistics are powered by petrol.
“Nearly 6% of India's GDP goes towards fossil fuel imports. Decarbonisation of the last-mile logistics sector is something that we are trying to solve and we feel battery swapping is the silver bullet that can electrify fleets used in logistics,” said Burman.
Gogoro India's recent collaboration with Zypp Electric involves deployment of 100 EVs empowered with the company’s six-second battery swap stations. This pilot is being done to ascertain the outcome using battery swaps in the logistics sector. It will also strive to find out what happens during downtime arising from EV charging requirements.
Burman is certain that fleets will adopt the battery-swapping tech faster than any other segment, followed by retail. Nearly 25% of all battery swaps taking place in Taiwan are on the Gogoro platform. The company has partnerships with 10 OEMs, including Hero MotoCorp in India and Yamaha in Taiwan. It has stated that it has enabled over 325 million battery swaps thus far, while averaging 340,000 per day.
Gogoro EVs In India?
At present, Gogoro has seven different electric scooter models in its portfolio, which are sold in some international markets but there is no clarity whether it will retail electric scooters in India or not.
“The problems in the EV market cannot be solved by a single player. We will always concentrate on solving the end-consumer’s friction points,' Burman said
Gogoro India is also an active participant in ongoing discussions on the yet-to-be-announced battery standards in the country. “We have helped write the national standards for EV battery swap stations in Taiwan and a lot of it has been around the safety aspect. We should let the customer decide which batteries and which battery swap ecosystem he will like to go ahead with,” Burman said.
For localisation, Gogoro has appointed its strategic investor Foxconn as the India-based contract manufacturing partner. It posted revenue of $102.2 million, up 1.5% YoY, for the third quarter that ended September 30 this year.
Also Read
Centre Amends EV Battery Testing Stds, Implementation In 2 Phases
How Zypp Electric Is Adding 1,000 EVs To Its Fleet Every Month