Just when we were about ready to start up a "Silly Scooter" category, along comes the Gogoro "Smart" scooter. (Can we call it a "Smarty Scooter"?) Not without its own brand of slight silliness, this scooter is at least as smart as our phones.
The Gogoro has been widely covered in everything from Mashable to Rideapart, but you're going to find the most detailed information in a story on The Verge by Chris Ziegler. Ziegler reports some interesting information about the financial backing of the project:
"...Luke is joined by a number of former colleagues at HTC, including co-founder Matt Taylor. Cher Wang, HTC’s billionaire founder, counts herself among Gogoro’s investors. The company has raised a total of $150 million, which is now on the line as it tries to convince riders, cities, and anyone else who will listen that it can pull this all off."
The focus on the Smartphone and app facets of this product start to become clear. The emphasis of the better part of the Gogoro website is on the apps and smartphone support, with precious little (other than some knee-slider shots of guys going way too fast on a scooter for the camera). You can see a pretty succinct rundown of those features on this video from Slashgear:
Here's some eye-candy for you:
Drivetrain angle
Smartphone-customizable dash
Battery modules
The Gogoro "family" -- scooter, battery swap station and batteries
Here are some of the specs - you can find the complete specs on the site, here.
| Specifications | |
| -- | |
| Drivetrain | |
| Throttle Control | Ride-by-wire Electric Throttle with Saferide™ Redundancy |
| Reverse Control | Ride-by-wire Reverse Throttle |
| Drive Mode | Normal Mode / Super Boost Mode |
| Battery Connector | Orientation-Agnostic Connector |
| Motor | G1 Motor - Liquid Cooled Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor |
| Motor Controller | Liquid Cooled MOSFET Controller |
| Cooling System | Liquid Cooled System with Monocoque Chassis Integrated Air Channel |
| Transmission Belt | Gates Poly Chain® GT® Carbon™ Belt w/Stretch-free Tensile Cords |
| Gear Box | Integrated Single Speed Planet Gears |
| Max. Power Output | 6,400 W @ 3,250 rpm |
| Max. Horsepower | 8.58 hp @ 3,250 rpm |
| Max. Torque | 25 Nm @ 0-2,250 rpm |
| -- | |
| Performance | |
| Acceleration (0~50 km/h)* | 4.2 sec |
| Max. Speed | 95 km/h (60 mph) |
| Max L Lean Angle | 45° |
| Max R Lean Angle | 48.5° |
| Hill Climb Ability* | 30% (17°): 30 km/h (19 mph) |
| 20% (11°): 40 km/h (25 mph) | |
| 10% (6°): 60 km/h (37 mph) | |
| Range Per Battery Swap (40km/h)* | Above 100 km (60 miles) |
| -- | |
| Dimensions | |
| Length x Width x Height | 1,730 mm x 690 mm x 1,215 mm (68.11" x 27.17" x 47.83") |
| Wheel Base | 1,230 mm (48.42 inch) |
| Gross Weight with 2 batteries | 112 kg (247 lbs) |
| Gross Weight | 94 kg (207 lbs) |
| Trunk Size | 24.5 L (0.85 cubic feet) |
Don't miss out on the important details there. 60 mph top speed with a 60 mile range? Well alrighty then, but to be perfectly honest, we'll believe it when we see it. But a liquid-cooled AC motor and controller? Right?
Kentfa Advanced Technology scooter battery-swap station
Now, something somewhere sounds vaguely familiar about all this. Wait. Was it almost a year ago, also from Taiwan? Why yes, yes it was:
"On display at the Taiwan International Electric Vehicle Show last week, the new system developed by Kentfa Advanced Technology Corporation is available for use for buyers of the firm’s Isuda City Cruiser electric scooters. However the system could work just as well with e-cycles and even small electric cars.
Owners of Isuda scooters in the city of Kaohsiung can pay a membership fee to join the scheme, which gives them access to exchange points established at 30 of the city’s subway stations.
Users simply insert a members’ card, which also gives them access to the city’s public transport system, into the exchange station, key in their membership number and open one of 15 drawers to take out a charged battery and replace it with the exhausted one from their scooter."
The relationship between the Gogoro and the Isuda? Inquiring minds want to know. Here's the Isuda video from April:
