Gogoro, a Taiwan-based startup company, announced the all-electric Smartscooter at CES in January.
At a recently-held press conference, the company's co-founder, Horace Luke, revealed that its flagship Smartscooter will have a preorder cost of around $4,100 (NTD128,000) in Taiwan. The higher-end version, dubbed the Smartscooter Plus, will be priced at $4,400 (NTD138,000).
The company is currently running a pilot program and has earned support from Taipei City as well the neighboring New Taipei City. Luke described the electric scooter's reception in Taipei as "beyond our imagination." This is more than just a testing ground, and the Taiwanese capital is also the site of the electric scooter's flagship store, the Gogoro Experience Center, where customers can get more firsthand information on the vehicle's unique selling features.
The preorder cost of $4,100 is inclusive of other perks, such as theft insurance, which is good for one year, free maintenance and roadside servicing for two years and free access to "swappable" electric batteries at Gogoro's charging stations for two years.
According to Luke, the electric scooter's batteries are filled with several sensors and a single NFC chip that allows it to communicate with the company's Energy Network of stations where batteries are swapped. As soon as a rider comes, the station immediately recognizes the vehicle and its account. Then, it opens up a spot for placing in a used battery and unlocks a new, fully charged battery. Batteries are placed beneath a rider's seat, which is lifted during swapping. Each battery weighs a mere 20 pounds (9 kilos) and takes only six seconds to swap.
It remains to be seen how the riding public, which is used to seeing gas-powered vehicles on the road, will "embrace" the technology brought by electric-powered vehicles along with their higher price tags. In Taiwan, gas scooters are priced at $2,620, and such a price is said to include high-end models. Cheaper models are said to be priced at $400 or even less.
Gogoro explains that when the government begins to acknowledge subsidies for electric vehicles and the savings brought about as a result of using batteries instead of gas, the overall cost of having a Smartscooter will definitely be cheaper than gas-powered models after only two years of use.
There's no information yet on the countries in which the company plans to expand its Smartscooter lineup. It has received the most inquiries from China, Brazil, India and Thailand as these are places where gas scooters are very popular.
Customers in Taiwan can start preordering the Smartscooter on June 27. The electric scooter is scheduled to launch on July 25. If the reception remains high and sales become successful, Gogoro will surely consider expanding across its neighboring Asian countries in the near future.
