4 ms·

Taiwan-based startup Gogoro re-imagines a cleaner and smarter electric scooter

18 points by warrenmar 11y ago

stuaxo 11y ago
everyone has a scooter here, so they are onto a good thing. Also, they are massive in the rest of Asia so the market is big. In Taiwan there are a lot of electric scooters around, they are also taking off in Vietnam. At the same time there are quite a few people on those mini segway thingies too.
- SixSigma 11y ago
  And some perspective in case that doesn't sink in Vietnam : 92m people, 72m scooters, 400% tax on car ticket price. The Vietnamese people I talked to when there said they desire a life where they have a car, what they don't seem to think of is where all the cars are going to go. This is a typical Vietnamese city street : https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/NHA+Trang,+Khanh+Hoa+Province,+Vietnam/@12.2425458,109.1890342,3a,75y,0.68h,70.41t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-I-_jo_1DILM%2FU8OmSKgTKVI%2FAAAAAAAAir8%2F_JOI3-I2cyQ!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-I-_jo_1DILM%2FU8OmSKgTKVI%2FAAAAAAAAir8%2F_JOI3-I2cyQ%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i8000!8i4000!4m2!3m1!1s0x3170677811cc886f:0x5c4bbc0aa81edcb9!6m1!1e1 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/NHA+Trang,+Khanh+Hoa+Pro...
  - A010 11y ago
    It's typical suburban VNese street, look for Ha Noi or HCMC street to see insane traffic.
    - SixSigma 11y ago
      Fair comment, I was going with the place I know.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
SideburnsOfDoom 11y ago
"To Read the Full Story, Subscribe or Sign In" What a waste.
- pingec 11y ago
  Accessing through google worked for me: https://www.google.com/search?q=Tech+Entrepreneur+Creates+a+Cleaner+Future+Starting+in+Taipei https://www.google.com/search?q=Tech+Entrepreneur+Creates+a+...
- brobinson 11y ago
  Click the "web" link under the title and then click the first result on Google to bypass the paywall.
- imrehg 11y ago
  Search for the title on Google and click the link: https://www.google.com/search?q=Taiwan-based+startup+Gogoro+re-imagines+a+cleaner+and+smarter+electric+scooter https://www.google.com/search?q=Taiwan-based+startup+Gogoro+... For more info see "Tell HN: Paywalls with workarounds are OK; paywall complaints are off topic" post about a month ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989
beilabs 11y ago
I'm in Nepal right now. Massive blockade by India taking place has taken the majority of vehicles off of the road. The only taxi cabs running with regularity are electric three wheelers. Electric scooter dealers and cycle shops are making an absolute killing over here right now.
justjimmy 11y ago
The problem is the price. When they first launched, the price was starting at $120,000 NTD. You can get a cheaper, gas scooter for say $30,000 NTD. In China, you can get an electric scooter for around $40,000 NTD. Once the electric market catches on here in Taiwan, the flood of cheaper eletric scooters from China will be Gogoro's biggest challenge. Gogoro has recently (3 months after launch) reduced their prices and introduced more models - with the light model (no battery plan included) starting at $88,000. And even with cuts from government programs (up to 3, depending on your location in Taiwan), it can be reduced down to $62,000. I haven't seen a single Gogoro out wild on the streets since it launched in Taiwan 3 months ago. I think a better strategy would've been getting people to buy into electric scooters first before pushing an 'Apple' E-Scooter with such a irrational price tag.
- r3m6 11y ago
  Divide by 30 for US$ prices. In Taiwan and China people are willing to spend near US$1000 for an Apple smart phone, so $3000-$4000 for a cool 'Apple' E-Scooter still sounds attractive to me. Unlike a car, you can park this thing directly in front of the stores, so everyone can see it/has to climb over it ;-) I am not their target market, but next time I am in Taiwan I would rent this scooter, even at double/triple the cost of a regular one. I actually wanted to rent an e-scooter before, but everyone advised against it: "Too slow" So for me the key question is: Does Gogoro feel like a real scooter, even with two people on it? Does it do to e-scooters what Tesla did for e-cars?
  - brobinson 11y ago
    Taiwan is HTC country. iPhone is a foreign status symbol. A scooter is just "something everyone has". There are more registered scooters in Taiwan than people! I showed my friends here (Kaohsiung) the Gogoro scooter a few months ago, and they said they would never buy it. Their reasoning was exactly as the grandparent comment said: there are cheaper alternatives. They said it's also ingrained into the culture to go for the best deal even if something which costs slightly more is much better.
  - swang 11y ago
_ph_ 11y ago
While their battery swapping system is very nice, it would be cool if they added a charger and sold it to other markets around the world without battery swapping. A nice electric scooter would be popular in many regions as a car alternative.

18 points by warrenmar 11y ago

everyone has a scooter here, so they are onto a good thing. Also, they are massive in the rest of Asia so the market is big. In Taiwan there are a lot of electric scooters around, they are also taking off in Vietnam. At the same time there are quite a few people on those mini segway thingies too.

SixSigma 11y ago
And some perspective in case that doesn't sink in Vietnam : 92m people, 72m scooters, 400% tax on car ticket price. The Vietnamese people I talked to when there said they desire a life where they have a car, what they don't seem to think of is where all the cars are going to go. This is a typical Vietnamese city street : https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/NHA+Trang,+Khanh+Hoa+Province,+Vietnam/@12.2425458,109.1890342,3a,75y,0.68h,70.41t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-I-_jo_1DILM%2FU8OmSKgTKVI%2FAAAAAAAAir8%2F_JOI3-I2cyQ!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-I-_jo_1DILM%2FU8OmSKgTKVI%2FAAAAAAAAir8%2F_JOI3-I2cyQ%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i8000!8i4000!4m2!3m1!1s0x3170677811cc886f:0x5c4bbc0aa81edcb9!6m1!1e1 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/NHA+Trang,+Khanh+Hoa+Pro...
- A010 11y ago
  It's typical suburban VNese street, look for Ha Noi or HCMC street to see insane traffic.
  - SixSigma 11y ago
    Fair comment, I was going with the place I know.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

SideburnsOfDoom 11y ago

"To Read the Full Story, Subscribe or Sign In" What a waste.

pingec 11y ago
Accessing through google worked for me: https://www.google.com/search?q=Tech+Entrepreneur+Creates+a+Cleaner+Future+Starting+in+Taipei https://www.google.com/search?q=Tech+Entrepreneur+Creates+a+...
brobinson 11y ago
Click the "web" link under the title and then click the first result on Google to bypass the paywall.
imrehg 11y ago
Search for the title on Google and click the link: https://www.google.com/search?q=Taiwan-based+startup+Gogoro+re-imagines+a+cleaner+and+smarter+electric+scooter https://www.google.com/search?q=Taiwan-based+startup+Gogoro+... For more info see "Tell HN: Paywalls with workarounds are OK; paywall complaints are off topic" post about a month ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989

beilabs 11y ago

I'm in Nepal right now. Massive blockade by India taking place has taken the majority of vehicles off of the road. The only taxi cabs running with regularity are electric three wheelers. Electric scooter dealers and cycle shops are making an absolute killing over here right now.

justjimmy 11y ago

The problem is the price. When they first launched, the price was starting at $120,000 NTD. You can get a cheaper, gas scooter for say $30,000 NTD. In China, you can get an electric scooter for around $40,000 NTD. Once the electric market catches on here in Taiwan, the flood of cheaper eletric scooters from China will be Gogoro's biggest challenge. Gogoro has recently (3 months after launch) reduced their prices and introduced more models - with the light model (no battery plan included) starting at $88,000. And even with cuts from government programs (up to 3, depending on your location in Taiwan), it can be reduced down to $62,000. I haven't seen a single Gogoro out wild on the streets since it launched in Taiwan 3 months ago. I think a better strategy would've been getting people to buy into electric scooters first before pushing an 'Apple' E-Scooter with such a irrational price tag.

r3m6 11y ago
Divide by 30 for US$ prices. In Taiwan and China people are willing to spend near US$1000 for an Apple smart phone, so $3000-$4000 for a cool 'Apple' E-Scooter still sounds attractive to me. Unlike a car, you can park this thing directly in front of the stores, so everyone can see it/has to climb over it ;-) I am not their target market, but next time I am in Taiwan I would rent this scooter, even at double/triple the cost of a regular one. I actually wanted to rent an e-scooter before, but everyone advised against it: "Too slow" So for me the key question is: Does Gogoro feel like a real scooter, even with two people on it? Does it do to e-scooters what Tesla did for e-cars?
- brobinson 11y ago
  Taiwan is HTC country. iPhone is a foreign status symbol. A scooter is just "something everyone has". There are more registered scooters in Taiwan than people! I showed my friends here (Kaohsiung) the Gogoro scooter a few months ago, and they said they would never buy it. Their reasoning was exactly as the grandparent comment said: there are cheaper alternatives. They said it's also ingrained into the culture to go for the best deal even if something which costs slightly more is much better.
- swang 11y ago

_ph_ 11y ago

While their battery swapping system is very nice, it would be cool if they added a charger and sold it to other markets around the world without battery swapping. A nice electric scooter would be popular in many regions as a car alternative.