Gogoro Network Is Growing By One More Electric Scooter Maker

One swappable battery standard to rule them all.

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Nov 30, 2020 at 10:15am ET

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Scooter culture has been huge in Taiwan for years, and the country has recently been an eager adopter of electric scooter tech. Now, the shift toward clean, quiet electric scooters is about to get even stronger. Remember Gogoro? In addition to making adorable electric scooters of its own, the Powered by Gogoro Network was where the company based its true power in a shared swappable battery standard.

So far, fellow electric scooter OEMs Yamaha, PGO, Aeonmotor, and eReady joined forces under the PBGN banner. On November 28, 2020, China Motor Corporation (CMC) announced that it will join PBGN as its fifth member, with its eMOVING scooter brand.

CMC previously made other electric vehicles before moving into the electric scooter space in 2019. In June of that year, it announced the initial launch of eMOVING as a direct competitor to Gogoro. The main selling point, CMC said, was that its scooter batteries could be charged with the batteries still in the scooter, rather than users having to worry about swapping batteries.

Fast-forward to November, 2020, and CMC says it will produce new PBGN-compatible scooters by the end of 2021. In the meantime, it will continue to sell the existing models that use the batteries it has already developed in-house. The company says it will continue to offer a range of options for customers to choose from when shopping for a new electric scooter, rather than committing to a single technology.

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To that end, in an official statement, CMC added that this partnership is not exclusive. The company reserves the right to enter other strategic electric vehicle partnerships as opportunities for advancement present themselves. In the meantime, CMC plans to both strengthen and expand its existing recharging options, in addition to the shared expansion via joining the PBGN.

According to Gogoro, as of November, 2020, the company currently has 2,005 GoStations located all across Taiwan. Its most recent third generation battery update offers a claimed range of up to 170 kilometers (just over 105 miles) with each swap. Constantly upgrading the batteries that PBGN offers also helps customers avoid the hassles associated with replacing aging batteries themselves.