6 ms·

In this 2 minute video demonstrating a Gogoro swap the rider goes from opening their seat to having a fresh battery and ready to ride in about 50 seconds: http

In this 2 minute video demonstrating a Gogoro swap the rider goes from opening their seat to having a fresh battery and ready to ride in about 50 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W34k0nrrDQA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W34k0nrrDQA

omk 5y ago
That looks like such a finished user experience. Just noticed the Gogoro swap logo in the video. Looks very similar to the Arduino logo. Only difference being the +/- positions are swapped.
- Tuna-Fish 5y ago
  Exactly. I expected people fumbling around with smartphone apps, instead the process is extraordinarily easy and simple with no extraneous steps.
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  I mean it's exactly what I would expect from something with minimal friction. The only improvements I can think of is to make the wait time slower; plugging one battery in should immediately unlock another. The other improvement depends on battery technology though.
  - asdf333 5y ago
    i bet it needs to do some checks to verify someone didn’t plug in a fake battery, the user has a valid subscription etc
  - KerrickStaley 5y ago
    The biggest point of friction is finding the swap station. Some swap stations are at ground level and easily visible from the street (e.g. at gas stations or convenience stores). But many are in parking garages and it's never clear what level the swap station is on or where in the facility it's located. I think the parking garage management gets to choose where to locate these stations, and typically they make it maximally convenient for people who are parking their scooters in the garage, without any consideration for people who are just stopping by. The app does give you a marker on a map and a photo of the the station, but it's often not enough.
14 5y ago
I wonder how long before someone comes up with a fake battery pack that looks identical and registers as having a higher battery power then it actually does and has fewer cells internally so they can take the real higher power more cells genuine battery and leave behind a fake on that barely works. Like fake memory cards you can get from wish.com that state they have much higher memory then what they actually have.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
  You're not going to get much repeat business if you hand out crappy batteries. It seems like incentives are decently well-aligned here. I guess you might be able to scam the rechargers themselves if you want to "return" a knock off. But if I were them I would put tamper resistant asset tags on my batteries and ensure that whatever battery im taking back is the same as the one I handed out.
- Gigachad 5y ago
  It’s the same as any kind of theft really. You probably get away with it to start but eventually the loss becomes great enough that the company pays attention and starts tracking it down. And if you have been doing this on a large scale you could be looking at serious criminal theft.
- markdown 5y ago
  About as long as it would take for Gogoro to put a camera on their battery kiosks.
- neurostimulant 5y ago
  Thankfully someone with such skill will be very unlikely to commit petty theft like this when there are more profitable endeavors to pursue with their skill.
  - cyberbanjo 5y ago
    No way! Just because you're skillful doesn't mean you're property utilized, or even (easily) utilizable, due to other issues. I met plenty handy unemployed without steady housing.
agumonkey 5y ago
Do you know what causes the slight wait before getting fresh batteries ? some checks ?
- genocidicbunny 5y ago
  Probably some sort of authentication and status checks of the inserted batteries.
- fbanon 5y ago
  Waiting for the animation to finish.
- kbaker 5y ago
  From the comments it seems like there are no fully charged batteries ready to go, and you will be taking some other mostly-charged ones.
  - adrianN 5y ago
    If swapping the battery takes about as long as sitting at a red light, that doesn't seem like a major problem.
  - gibolt 5y ago
    It should be able to correctly time most charges, so that you are always getting the highest battery charge state available at that stop. Most kiosks have 30+ batteries, so each has a while to recharge before being 'summoned' again.
    - Cthulhu_ 5y ago
      I can imagine it takes a few hours to fully charge these batteries (and to keep them cool), so if it's frequently used there wouldn't be any full batteries and swapping them would be a waste. I mean it can be scaled up so that one of these stations has hundreds of batteries, an active cooling system etc etc, so it's a fixable problem.
  - Thorrez 5y ago
abraxas 5y ago
The batteries don't look all that big. Do you know what the range is on a fresh pair?
- KerrickStaley 5y ago
  I would typically plan for 60 km between swaps, which includes a healthy error margin (I owned a Gogoro 2+ when I lived in Taiwan a year ago). Gogoro advertises 110 km but that is at 25 kph which is unrealistically slow. 60 km actually goes quite far in Taiwan, which isn’t a very big place compared to eg the United States. Gogoro has an extensive network and you only range limited in rural areas like the east coast or the central mountains.
  - rbobby 5y ago
    Can you plug in a gogoro to a regular wall socket? Better a slow charge than to be stuck.
    - chmod775 5y ago
      You can always just push it down the road, load the whole thing on a truck, or carry new batteries to where it's parked if it comes to that.
tomatowurst 5y ago
ssivark 5y ago
Battery change is great, but wow the ride sounds noisy! I was under the impression that we could expect electric vehicles to be fairly quiet.
- foepys 5y ago
  Electric motorcycles have this problem, too. Last year a popular German motorcycle magazine ("Motorrad") tested electric motorcycles in their big mountain test where they bring almost all available motorcycle models from that year to the alps. The loudest motorcycle driven at normal speeds was an electric one. I really hope they can bring that noise down further.
  - karolist 5y ago
    Was it loud because of EV drive or just the lack of ICE attenuated chain and sprocket noise further?
    - Tade0 5y ago
      Looking at the powertrain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD4s92gwlMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD4s92gwlMY It has to be either the planetary gear set or the chain - none of the gears are helical, so they're bound to be noisy. According to the specs the motor is a permanent magnet synchronous motor, which is normally mostly silent.
- bandrami 5y ago
  The good news is this is India so you won't hear it over the constant honking
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  Electric cars are whisper quiet at low speeds; at higher speeds tire noise becomes prominent. I wouldn't be surprised if they intentionally add noise for safety reasons.
ajuc 5y ago
I love the fact there's 2 smaller batteries instead of 1 big one. There's a lot of people with back problems (for example my wife) and this kind of design helps them a lot. Can't wait for this to come to Poland.
- melomal 5y ago
  Poland has a number of e-scooter companies where you can rent them. They are littered all over Tricity, baby blue ones, but they don't seem to be that popular, especially during the winter months.
  - ajuc 5y ago
    Yes I know, we have them in Lublin, but they are priced for occasional short trips not for using them every day. I'd prefer to own the scooter and pay for battery swaps.
    - melomal 5y ago
      Interesting. What about during the winter months?
- endymi0n 5y ago
  Have a look at the Silence S01 too, they have a quite different and interesting system that solves for more energy: The battery converts itself into a heavy trolley that you can just pull out, roll to any plug, charge it and put back again. I seriously ponder getting one as it‘s a nice match for a city apartment with no charging ports.

omk 5y ago

That looks like such a finished user experience. Just noticed the Gogoro swap logo in the video. Looks very similar to the Arduino logo. Only difference being the +/- positions are swapped.

Tuna-Fish 5y ago
Exactly. I expected people fumbling around with smartphone apps, instead the process is extraordinarily easy and simple with no extraneous steps.
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
I mean it's exactly what I would expect from something with minimal friction. The only improvements I can think of is to make the wait time slower; plugging one battery in should immediately unlock another. The other improvement depends on battery technology though.
- asdf333 5y ago
  i bet it needs to do some checks to verify someone didn’t plug in a fake battery, the user has a valid subscription etc
- KerrickStaley 5y ago
  The biggest point of friction is finding the swap station. Some swap stations are at ground level and easily visible from the street (e.g. at gas stations or convenience stores). But many are in parking garages and it's never clear what level the swap station is on or where in the facility it's located. I think the parking garage management gets to choose where to locate these stations, and typically they make it maximally convenient for people who are parking their scooters in the garage, without any consideration for people who are just stopping by. The app does give you a marker on a map and a photo of the the station, but it's often not enough.

14 5y ago

I wonder how long before someone comes up with a fake battery pack that looks identical and registers as having a higher battery power then it actually does and has fewer cells internally so they can take the real higher power more cells genuine battery and leave behind a fake on that barely works. Like fake memory cards you can get from wish.com that state they have much higher memory then what they actually have.

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
You're not going to get much repeat business if you hand out crappy batteries. It seems like incentives are decently well-aligned here. I guess you might be able to scam the rechargers themselves if you want to "return" a knock off. But if I were them I would put tamper resistant asset tags on my batteries and ensure that whatever battery im taking back is the same as the one I handed out.
Gigachad 5y ago
It’s the same as any kind of theft really. You probably get away with it to start but eventually the loss becomes great enough that the company pays attention and starts tracking it down. And if you have been doing this on a large scale you could be looking at serious criminal theft.
markdown 5y ago
About as long as it would take for Gogoro to put a camera on their battery kiosks.
neurostimulant 5y ago
Thankfully someone with such skill will be very unlikely to commit petty theft like this when there are more profitable endeavors to pursue with their skill.
- cyberbanjo 5y ago
  No way! Just because you're skillful doesn't mean you're property utilized, or even (easily) utilizable, due to other issues. I met plenty handy unemployed without steady housing.

agumonkey 5y ago

Do you know what causes the slight wait before getting fresh batteries ? some checks ?

genocidicbunny 5y ago
Probably some sort of authentication and status checks of the inserted batteries.
fbanon 5y ago
Waiting for the animation to finish.
kbaker 5y ago
From the comments it seems like there are no fully charged batteries ready to go, and you will be taking some other mostly-charged ones.
- adrianN 5y ago
  If swapping the battery takes about as long as sitting at a red light, that doesn't seem like a major problem.
- gibolt 5y ago
  It should be able to correctly time most charges, so that you are always getting the highest battery charge state available at that stop. Most kiosks have 30+ batteries, so each has a while to recharge before being 'summoned' again.
  - Cthulhu_ 5y ago
    I can imagine it takes a few hours to fully charge these batteries (and to keep them cool), so if it's frequently used there wouldn't be any full batteries and swapping them would be a waste. I mean it can be scaled up so that one of these stations has hundreds of batteries, an active cooling system etc etc, so it's a fixable problem.
- Thorrez 5y ago

abraxas 5y ago

The batteries don't look all that big. Do you know what the range is on a fresh pair?

KerrickStaley 5y ago
I would typically plan for 60 km between swaps, which includes a healthy error margin (I owned a Gogoro 2+ when I lived in Taiwan a year ago). Gogoro advertises 110 km but that is at 25 kph which is unrealistically slow. 60 km actually goes quite far in Taiwan, which isn’t a very big place compared to eg the United States. Gogoro has an extensive network and you only range limited in rural areas like the east coast or the central mountains.
- rbobby 5y ago
  Can you plug in a gogoro to a regular wall socket? Better a slow charge than to be stuck.
  - chmod775 5y ago
    You can always just push it down the road, load the whole thing on a truck, or carry new batteries to where it's parked if it comes to that.

tomatowurst 5y ago

ssivark 5y ago

Battery change is great, but wow the ride sounds noisy! I was under the impression that we could expect electric vehicles to be fairly quiet.

foepys 5y ago
Electric motorcycles have this problem, too. Last year a popular German motorcycle magazine ("Motorrad") tested electric motorcycles in their big mountain test where they bring almost all available motorcycle models from that year to the alps. The loudest motorcycle driven at normal speeds was an electric one. I really hope they can bring that noise down further.
- karolist 5y ago
  Was it loud because of EV drive or just the lack of ICE attenuated chain and sprocket noise further?
  - Tade0 5y ago
    Looking at the powertrain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD4s92gwlMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD4s92gwlMY It has to be either the planetary gear set or the chain - none of the gears are helical, so they're bound to be noisy. According to the specs the motor is a permanent magnet synchronous motor, which is normally mostly silent.
bandrami 5y ago
The good news is this is India so you won't hear it over the constant honking
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
Electric cars are whisper quiet at low speeds; at higher speeds tire noise becomes prominent. I wouldn't be surprised if they intentionally add noise for safety reasons.

ajuc 5y ago

I love the fact there's 2 smaller batteries instead of 1 big one. There's a lot of people with back problems (for example my wife) and this kind of design helps them a lot. Can't wait for this to come to Poland.

melomal 5y ago
Poland has a number of e-scooter companies where you can rent them. They are littered all over Tricity, baby blue ones, but they don't seem to be that popular, especially during the winter months.
- ajuc 5y ago
  Yes I know, we have them in Lublin, but they are priced for occasional short trips not for using them every day. I'd prefer to own the scooter and pay for battery swaps.
  - melomal 5y ago
    Interesting. What about during the winter months?
endymi0n 5y ago
Have a look at the Silence S01 too, they have a quite different and interesting system that solves for more energy: The battery converts itself into a heavy trolley that you can just pull out, roll to any plug, charge it and put back again. I seriously ponder getting one as it‘s a nice match for a city apartment with no charging ports.