Exclusive Conversation With Kaushik Burman, Gogoro India On Battery Swapping

Gogoro is a Taiwanese battery swapping technology brand and has more swapping locations than gas stations in Taiwan, with over 95 percent market share.

Gogoro Inc., a global technology player in the battery swapping ecosystem has recently entered India, announcing a strategic B2B initiative and partnership with Zypp Electric, India's EV-as-a-Service platform. The B2B Pilot Gogoro-Zypp Electric programme was launched in Delhi-NCR, as Gogoro launched multiple Swapping Stations in Delhi and Gurgaon to cater multiple fleet operators doing last mile fulfillment, e-commerce, & hyper-local deliveries. Gogoro is Taiwanese brand and has more swapping locations than gas stations in Taiwan, with over 95 percent market share. With Gogoro entering India, Battery Swapping can get a much needed push and to discuss on it, we got in touch with Kaushik Burman, GM, Gogoro India.

Watch: Interview With Gogoro India

What Is Battery Swapping?

Battery Swapping is a technology where a common swapping station is used to charge multiple batteries, that can be swapped on the go, with empty battery. A large swapping station houses multiple batteries, all of which are charged at a time. When a rider with empty battery comes at the station, they can simply remove the battery from the scooter and replace it will topped up battery from the station.

The Swapping Station technology is witnessed as a next big revolution in the electric vehicle industry, as it can give impetus to the fleet operators, who run on low turnaround time. With a swapping station, they don't need to park their vehicles for long to charge the EVs.

Gogoro Battery Swapping Technology

With more than 450 million battery swaps globally, Gogoro’s 6-second Swap & Go battery swapping has been awarded globally for urban two-wheel refuelling by eliminating the traditional EV charging challenges of finding places to charge and then waiting to charge. With more than a half million riders and nearly 11,000 battery swapping GoStations at over 2,240 locations, Gogoro Network hosts more than 370,000 daily battery swaps with more than 350 million total battery swaps to date.

Gogoro is a founding member of the Indian battery swapping association (IBSA), and it has been working to secure all of the relevant certifications for its batteries and battery swapping stations. Apart from Swapping, Gogoro has also introduced Gogoro Smartscooters for urban mobility. 

Pilot With Zypp Electric

Gogoro Inc., an EV technology brand has launched its battery swapping platform and Smartscooters in Delhi-NCR. This launch is part of Gogoro and Zypp Electric’s pilot project, announced earlier and also marks the brand's entry into the fastest growing EV market of India. Kaushik Burman, said that India is a critical market for Gogoro and with the launch of our B2B pilot with Zypp, we are confident that we can bring the best-in-class EV technology and infrastructure to the Indian market.

"Our ongoing partnerships, especially in the last mile mobility space, are a testament to our commitment to the region and we look forward to expanding our business in the country and scaling our operations,” he said.

India's EV Market

India's sales of electric vehicles experienced a remarkable 58% growth, crossing the million mark recently. The majority of these sales were electric two-wheelers, which hold a 62% market share. Experts believe that for the last-mile deliveries where the vehicles are often on the road all day without time to stop and charge, battery swapping is the perfect solution. The entire process of 6-seconds swap offered by Gogoro is quicker than a typical refuelling stop on an ICE-powered motorcycle or scooter.