It definitely will not save money. I drive a 125cc every day and NT500 is more than enough for a month. And it’s way easier to find a gas station than a Gogoro store.
Of course, my 125cc is way noisier and bad for the environment than the Gogoro, which I think are the main advantages of an electric scooter…
The problem for gogoro is not their product or
Pricing which is very reasonable it is the poor environmental policies of Taiwan’s government , where they allow polluting scooters to drive into city centers and park with low or no fees. Gogoro might be a success somewhere but bizarrely in the land of scooters it might not happen here, due to the extreme low costs of running polluting scooters here.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]The problem for gogoro is not their product or
Pricing which is very reasonable it is the poor environmental policies of Taiwan’s government , where they allow polluting scooters to drive into city centers and park with low or no fees. Gogoro might be a success somewhere but bizarrely in the land of scooters it might not happen here, due to the extreme low costs of running polluting scooters here.[/quote]
The government only has to enforce illegal parking laws and restrict free parkeing for polluting scooters but not for electric scooters and they are golden.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]The problem for gogoro is not their product or
Pricing which is very reasonable it is the poor environmental policies of Taiwan’s government , where they allow polluting scooters to drive into city centers and park with low or no fees. Gogoro might be a success somewhere but bizarrely in the land of scooters it might not happen here, due to the extreme low costs of running polluting scooters here.[/quote]
That has been one of my arguments all along. It is ridiculously cheap to operate a scooter or motorcycle.
One thing that I forgot was apparently the gov’t (Taipei and Taoyuan) has 20-25K rebates for this scooter. That certainly helps.
I ride daily, and I have seen two Gogoros so far. One was going like a bat out o’ hell. I only caught up with him because of a red light, and I asked him how he liked the bike. He said he liked it and then almost silently rocketed away from the light.
When my current motorbike dies, I want one of these.
They will get some money back according to today’s Taipei Times.
I would consider one if they didn’t look so effeminate. I’ll wait until they come out with a manly version.
I’d agree that Gogoro scooters certainly are small, effeminate and fragile looking. The design alone is total non starter for a lot of people I’ve spoken to, and the battery lease mileage scheme a further deal breaker. It really doesn’t matter much though since Gogoro was doomed from the start in Taiwan because of two major issues, namely Kymco and SYM. Their influence in govt kept “heavy” bikes out for years after the WTO demanded their deregulation, and still in part maintains the protectionist penalties disproportionately levied against them today. Manufacturers like Harley Davidson, Honda and Yamaha, all massive global companies, have been unable to shake the guanxi stranglehold Kymco and SYM enjoy as the closest thing Taiwan has left to a manufacture to export automotive industry. To be fair Kymco is doing a pretty good job, but even if they weren’t there is no level playing field. Gogoro has next to no chance of making a dent, and their 20% price dump and slumping sales mere months after launch paints a fairly clear picture of where they’re headed IMO.
The problem that gogoro will have in Taiwan is ‘how to make money’. Yes all companies have that problem but I think with supporting the network and the advertising and the design and marketing costs it’s a heavy burden. The 900 ntd a month is not cheap in Taiwan and yet overseas it would be seen as very reasonable in many places. Now
Maybe gogoro have done the sums and with the massive scooter ridership
And dense population concluded they just need 2% of riders to break even or whatever,
Though not with their high
Marketing costs. They should reduce their marketing not costs dramatically and try to use viral ways or online methods of marketing.
Same with their scooter costs, premium being around 3-4000 USD would be cheap in places like San fransisco or London. Hopefully they will be able to get some traction in richer cities or resorts or islands overseas where the equation may be more in their favour, they will
Have to keep being very flexible
With the business model.
Cities or islands which have banned motor vehicles except for electric powered versions would be ideal markets. They should also put out a home charging version for overseas.
[quote=“zender”]I ride daily, and I have seen two Gogoros so far. One was going like a bat out o’ hell. I only caught up with him because of a red light, and I asked him how he liked the bike. He said he liked it and then almost silently rocketed away from the light.
When my current motorbike dies, I want one of these.[/quote]
I’ve seen quite a few already, and they sure can shift. I imagine the top speed isn’t much, but the riders I’ve seen are enjoying the acceleration performance. Won’t do the battery lifetime much good, I suspect.
Had a look in the gogoro display store today in Xinyi couldn’t identify which scooter was which, was still getting lots of attention anyway.
[quote=“Abacus”][quote=“headhonchoII”]The problem for gogoro is not their product or
Pricing which is very reasonable it is the poor environmental policies of Taiwan’s government , where they allow polluting scooters to drive into city centers and park with low or no fees. Gogoro might be a success somewhere but bizarrely in the land of scooters it might not happen here, due to the extreme low costs of running polluting scooters here.[/quote]
That has been one of my arguments all along. It is ridiculously cheap to operate a scooter or motorcycle.
One thing that I forgot was apparently the gov’t (Taipei and Taoyuan) has 20-25K rebates for this scooter. That certainly helps.[/quote]
I have to agree with this as well. I’m out on a scooter every day commuting to and from work and doing errands every once in awhile. I make sure that my machine is well maintained so I do not become one of those crotch rockets that emit a ton of fumes every time they take off from the red light.
However, it’s true, it’s way too cheap to own a scooter here. When 99% of the places you go have free parking for scooters and even when scooters are parked obnoxiously on a red line, nothing is done. I’m guilty of parking on a red line every time I visit my gf’s place because there’s actually no other place to park. I’m not concerned because it’s a residential area and there are a few scooters parked there every night alongside mine. I sometimes wish I would get ticketed just so I can say that the cops are doing their jobs and ticketing scooters.
900NTD a month is definitely not cheap for a monthly subscription. Depending on what kind of scooter you’re riding and how reckless you are, you’re not paying more than 500-600NTD a month for gas (at least I don’t).
Now the price has dropped so much I’d love to get my hands on one, no significant difference with owning a motor scooter. Yes costs a bit more but not a deal breaker in any shape or form, a few hundred more a month for somebody who rides regularly. They will need to build out the network in New Taipei City. Would love to get one but I just won’t ride a scooter into Taipei from New Taipei City, and I can’t stick my kids on the back on the weekend. Ah well. I can see why some posters think they are too cute, but you can customize them and the build quality stands out. In the end they are not for petrol heads.
I’m lucky enough to be right in between the Song Shan and Guang Hua Digital Market recharge spots, but the deal breaker for me is unless you’re tiny and your passenger is just as tiny, there’s no way two people will fit on a gogoro, comfortably. They do accelerate hella fast though.
I’m curious, what’s the anti-theft system on one of those?
They have finally hit a price point (with gov’t subsidy) that it is an attractive option to many. The monthly fee is expensive but not prohibitively so it is an option.
The deal breaker for me is that I mostly use my motorcycle for 200+ km trips into the mountains with camping gear. This just isn’t going to cut it. If I needed simple transport around town and I used it fairly often then I would certainly be interested. Or if I had a wife and needed a 2nd scooter then this would be perfect.
The other problem for many (and myself) is that they own fine and usable scooters that are worth <20K and they don’t really care to spend their money on something new. For those that are looking to buy a new 60+K scooter though this should be looked at. I really hope that this takes off and we start seeing a benefit in air quality.
Ali Village, Pingtung, Taiwan by Kirk Beiser, on Flickr
That’s biking Taiwan style 
Coming back from Penghu this summer made me realize it is the perfect place for a gogoro. From start to finish the island is about 70km long doing the full horse shoe. Put a charging station at the start/middle and end of the island. Sadly you would think Penghus air quality to be great being so off the beaten path but when doing an air quality search I found it to be in the 50’s Which is yellow, not horrible but definitely not good. I would have thought Penghu to be like 10-15 like hualian is at times. I think the incoming pollution from China and maybe the ferry boats could be causing the higher rating in Penghu. Anyway Penghu is beautiful and needs to remain the way it is by wiping out all gas vehicles on its island. There are electric scooters on penghu, actually quite a lot. They are the e-moving and lower quality types with 40-50kph max speeds and 20-30km range. Gogoro would really flourish there for rentals, and locals. No beautiful species of animals or flora is going to perish in Taipei city if we all don’t make the immediate switch to electric vehicles, but we could all breathe better. But in Penghu with the air index hovering around 50 well, something could be implemented there first, and cities later, just saying.
Something I didn’t know, apparently the initial pricing also included 2 years of free battery swapping. Makes a big difference! And makes the new price cut not as big of a cut as it seems.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/1/9430971/gogoro-price-cut-gogoro-lite
All
The focus on a few hundred ntd per month is neither here nor there. Taiwanese spend so much on new phones every year or two and the difference of 300 ntd a month is barely a decent meal in Taipei city.
Gogoro smartly offered consumers to pay now or pay later. You are not getting a motor
Scooter when you buy a gogoro.
It’s characteristics are significantly different in terms of acceleration, quietness, connectivity and cleanliness.
One fascinating thought struck me. Gogoro could become the worlds FIRST successful battery
Swapping network at city or national scale. That would be some achievement. The battery swapping network is efficient because gogoro don’t need to shift units around like youbikes, one goes in, one comes out.
It would be excellent for Penghu, but even more useful
For the disgrace that is green island or on Xiao Liu qiu. A lot of locals make money from renting noisy dirty scooters though so that is why the trade has continued. There are many islands worldwide that could benefit from
A gogoro network should really push that angle!