The G20 summit, which brings together the twenty largest economies on the planet, opens on Tuesday, September 15 in Bali, Indonesia. Developed countries and emerging nations will talk about the major crises of the moment such as the war in Ukraine, but also work on a longer-term agenda such as global warming. And the Indonesian organizers took advantage of this meeting to test a new electric scooter taxi system. Everything is organized around the rental of batteries.
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For Indonesia, this transition to electricity is a key issue. The streets of the center of the island of Bali are permanently congested. There are a lot of traffic jams and the problem is that they are essentially gasoline vehicles. Many cars, pick-ups but also tens of thousands of small mopeds. Here, as in most Southeast Asian countries, the moped or scooter remains the main family vehicle. In Indonesia, 85% of families have a moped, only a third have a car. The authorities who want to reduce their CO2 emissions and improve the quality of their air, therefore say to themselves that the electric revolution and the phasing out of the conventional combustion engine will necessarily go through two-wheelers. Not only by the electric sedan, as we see rather in the rich countries.
The problem is that these two electric wheels are still expensive, more expensive than classic petrol mopeds. Hence the idea of an electric battery subscription system. The objective is to gradually change mentalities, starting with two-wheel taxis. It’s a classic here in Bali. You hail a biker, wearing a colored vest, in the street. He gives you a helmet or not and you go with him to the beach or the temples of Ubud. The inhabitants use it a lot to go shopping or to work.
A new electric scooter service has been launched: Gogoro. It is a Taiwanese company that designed it and operates it. The pilots rent their scooter and they pay a small subscription to change the battery as soon as theirs is empty. In the streets, often in front of stores or partner service stations, there are sorts of large cupboards. You take out your battery, place it in an empty charging space and take a full one: it takes 30 seconds and you’re off again.
The latest #SwapAndGo stats from the #gogoro Network:
Over 352,783,929 Smart Batteries have been swapped since 2015
In the last 30 days, Gogoro Network subscribers have swapped 370,769 Smart Batteries a day$GGR #urbantransportation #micromobility pic.twitter.com/GNWyt3NI6w
—Gogoro (@WeAreGogoro) November 7, 2022
The Gogoro system is already very popular in Taiwan where the conversion to electric two-wheelers is very fast. There are tests elsewhere in Southeast Asia, including Singapore. And even the Japanese, who control the world gasoline motorcycle market – with the giants Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki – even they are getting into it. They will soon launch in Tokyo, for individuals, a similar battery exchange system called “Gachaco”.