Gogoro Smartscooter, a clever little electric
scooter that had swappable batteries and has gone down a storm in Taiwan. Now they have announced the Smartscooter
2, which should be more fun to ride and, so Gogoro say, almost impossible to
steal.
The Smartscooter has the same performance stats as
the original model, so its 6.4Kw G2 motor powers the scoot up to a top speed of
55 mph with a 0-30 mph time of 4.3 seconds. The range is roughly 68 miles, but
unlike other electric vehicles you can swap the batteries at battery docks. In
Taiwan, where Gogoro are based, there are roughly 500 battery docks at various
public locations and petrol stations.
There have been some hardware changes though, the
biggest of which is a swap to a two person seat. Not only does this increase
the person capacity, it has also increased the luggage capacity as the scooter
will now take two helmets in the space under the seat. The other big change is
a switch to a 14” front wheel with a 13” back wheel, which Gogoro say improves
handling and increases the stability of the scooter around town.
On top of hardware changes, there are software
changes too including the addition of an extra security measure to start the
bike. As well as the usual ignition key, the bike also makes use of fingerprint
scanning in your mobile phone to ensure that even if someone steals the key or
forces the lock, they can’t get it started. And how much for all this forward
looking tech? Rather amazingly it will go on sale later this year in Taiwan for
around £ 1,000, which is nearly half the price of the original.
As for seeing one in the UK – Gogoro have spread
into Europe with a sharing scheme in Germany and another soon to follow in
France. With the right infrastructure, we could see this coming to London
within two years before spreading out through the other major cities.
