We expand green mobility initiatives by investing in Gogoro’s electric smartscooters and energy network technologies
22/09/2017News
20/09/2017 – Our Group has announced its participation in the Series C round of financing of Gogoro to support further R&D and international expansion.
What’s a SmartScooter and How Does it Work?
The Gogoro’s Smartscooter is an innovative Green Mobility technology created in Taiwan in 2011: Gogoro Smartscooters are electric scooters that can reach the speed of 95 km/h and can go up to 100 kilometers without need of being recharged.
Its innovative battery swapping system allows users not only to check the state of the scooter’s batteries via a smartphone app, but also to swap out a battery for a recharged one in one simple movement: each Smartscooter uses two swappable batteries.
The scooter’s smartphone connection also allows users to make changes, down to the sound the scooter makes and the color of its lights, and it gives users an at-a-glance look at the closest charging stations, dubbed “go stations”. These stations are already available all around Taiwan, where more than 30 000 scooters are already on the road.
“One of the greatest challenges of our time is transitioning our cities to a smarter and more sustainable energy and transportation infrastructure. ENGIE’s investment is a strong validation of Gogoro’s business and market success and we are proud to welcome them to our investor group” said Horace Luke, co-founder and CEO of Gogoro. “Gogoro provides a new approach for cities to embrace sustainable energy through a smart connected infrastructure and battery swapping system that has demonstrated success.”
Europe has already had its first glimpse at this Taiwanese marvel: 1,600 scooters are already on the road in Paris and Berlin.
ENGIE and Gogoro
Our Group has just announced its participation in the $300 million Series C investment round through ENGIE New Ventures, its Corporate Venture Capital arm:
“Mobility is a key issue for our major cities, which by 2050 will be home to 67% of the world’s population. At ENGIE, we are contributing to the creation of a new form of mobility that is more fluid, cleaner and more economical in cities and regions throughout the world,” said Isabelle Kocher. “This investment in Gogoro illustrates our conviction that mobility is changing and that Gogoro’s solutions are promising.”
We are joined by other industry leaders including Temasek, Generation Investment Management, and Sumitomo Corporation in the support of this new product, showing an increased interest in and commitment to next generation sustainable energy infrastructure.
ENGIE and Mobility TODAY
This initiative is included in our larger “Better Mobility TODAY” initiative: a solution that seeks to offer a comprehensive range of clean mobility solutions that transform the way energy is used in urban areas.
These solutions have united our expertise in alternative fuels, transport infrastructures, smart transit systems, and more and have included the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles in Rotterdam and the development of buses in Paris powered exclusively by bio-methane and bio-NGV. This new electric scooters initiative will bring even more clean mobility solutions to urban areas.