Taipei, July 8 (CNA) Taiwanese electric smartscooter maker Gogoro Inc. announced on Saturday that pre-orders for its Gogoro 2 series have set a new company record of over 13,000 units.
Pre-orders for Gogoro 2 smartscooters reached more than 13,000 units by the end of June, after the company started taking orders on May 25, Gogoro co-founder and CEO Horace Luke said.
He estimated that Gogoro, which has sold close to 13,000 smartscooters in Taiwan in 2016, will more than double its sales this year.
On Saturday, the first batch of Gogoro 2 smartscooters was delivered to customers at 34 locations around Taiwan. An event was held at National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, where 200 owners picked up their new vehicles.
One said he felt the new scooter has a more powerful starting torque than conventional oil-powered scooters. Changing batteries for the scooter at swapping stations is also faster than pumping gas at a gas station, he added.
Gogoro currently operates close to 400 battery-swapping stations around the country and will continue to expand the number, Luke said.
He added that the company has already signed agreements with 7-Eleven convenience store chain and hypermarket chains RT-Mart and PXMart, to set up battery-swapping stations at their outlets in the future.
Taoyuan City residents can purchase a Gogoro 2 scooter for as little as NT$38,800 (US$1,268). Although Gogoro 2 scooters are priced at NT$73,800, local governments provide different subsidies and Taoyuan City is the most generous.
Luke said about 25 percent of customers (and over 60 percent in Kaohsiung) who purchased Gogoro 2 scooters did so to replace their 2-stroke scooters. These customers are eligible for a government subsidy to replace the older bikes which produces a lot of pollution.
This demonstrates the government's determination to fight air pollution and shows that more people are now trying out a new lifestyle and identifying with Gogoro's focus on smart transportation and energy, Luke said.
According to statistics from the Environmental Protection Administration, a total of 20,628 electric motorbikes were sold in Taiwan in 2016. Among them, 62 percent were Gogoro smartscooters, while 22 percent were another Taiwan company China Motor's motorbikes.
