Cycle & Carriage, Gogoro launch battery-swop electric scooters and stations in Singapore
Three electric scooters and four battery-swop stations kick off Gogoro’s official launch here
CYCLE & Carriage Singapore (C&C) and Gogoro have officially launched battery-swop electric scooters and charging stations in Singapore on Wednesday (Oct 16).
Three electric scooter models were unveiled at the new Gogoro showroom located within the C&C Electric Commercial Vehicle Hub at 330 Ubi Road. They will be supported by four battery-swop stations.
Wilfrid Foo, C&C managing director, told The Business Times at the launch that he expects the majority of sales to come from fleet or corporate sales.
C&C was earlier confirmed as the authorised distributor for Gogoro in Singapore in July.
Swop don’t stop
Three of Gogoro’s electric scooters will be available for purchase or lease from November: the Premium, SuperSport and Vivamix.
No pricing information was available as the motorcycles are undergoing approval with the Land Transport Authority, but BT understands that the cost of the machine does not include an onboard battery.
A battery-swop subscription starts at S$70 a month and includes unlimited battery swops.
Battery-swopping involves physically replacing a depleted battery pack for a fresh one at a battery-swop station. Unlike plug-in electric motorcycles, which can take a few hours to charge, the swop process can take minutes.
Three of the stations are located within C&C premises at 239 Alexandra Road, 330 Ubi Road and 209 Pandan Gardens.
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C&C and Shell have also partnered to open battery-swop stations at Shell service stations in the Republic, with the first located at 58 Yio Chu Kang Road. SP Mobility, a subsidiary of SP Group, also partnered C&C and will manage the operations for all battery-swop stations. The two entities are in discussions to set up more Gogoro stations at other locations around Singapore.
While the scooters are available to both consumers and businesses, C&C’s Foo said that the response from businesses during the battery-swop trial was positive. Logistics companies and delivery services were drawn to the lack of downtime compared to plug-in electric motorcycles, and increasing environmental, social and governance demands, he said.
The trial ran from March 2023 to September 2024, and has since transitioned into a full commercial partnership.
Swop out
C&C is not the first to offer battery-swop electric motorcycles in Singapore, with Evotion Labs announcing its battery-swop service in May using scooters from China manufacturer Niu.
Automotive retailer Cycle & Carriage is a subsidiary of mainboard-listed Jardine Cycle & Carriage , which has a strong presence in South-east Asia.
Gogoro was founded in Taiwan in 2011, and has received funding from the likes of Temasek, Sumitomo and Engie. It listed on Nasdaq via a special purpose acquisition company initial public offering in 2022.
The Taiwan-headquartered company is a leader in battery-swop technology for electric scooters and motorcycles.
However, the company has had problems. Its second-quarter results released in August showed its gross profit margin shrank to 5.2 per cent from 15.2 per cent in the year-ago period, and its net loss deepened to US$20.1 million from US$5.6 million.
Media reports attributed this to an over-reliance on subsidies in Taiwan and difficulties in expansion.
Gogoro has established a presence in South Korea, India and the Philippines. However, more than 90 per cent of its revenue comes from its home market of Taiwan, where it has almost 14,000 battery-swop racks at around 2,600 locations.
Bruce Aitken, Gogoro’s chief financial officer, told media at the launch that the company’s move in Singapore with C&C could help support its expansion in the region.
“We hope to work with Cycle & Carriage in multiple other markets as well. There are a lot of places where they have a big presence,” he said.
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