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If you think you have seen everything that is outrageous, then you have not seen the Gogoro electric scooter. For starters, this isn’t your regular electric vehicle. You don’t just plug it to store power in it. It uses swappable batteries and these batteries can be swapped in different swapping stations that will be put up soon. So what is the story behind this outrageous scooter?

Gogoro CEO, Horace Luke, first revealed this scooter in a San Francisco event. Luke himself is a designer who previously worked with big brands like HTC, Nike, and Microsoft; which is why the design of the Gogoro scooter is definitely one that you would be enticed to check out. In fact, the design and the idea behind this green vehicle is worth backing up that HTC founder, Cher Wang, and co-founder, Matt Taylor.

So what does the Gogoro scooter have to offer that other green vehicles and scooters don’t?

1. Aesthetic Value – the Gogoro scooter is equipped with LED lights, headlights and taillights, that can be programmable. If you have seen Knight Rider, you can just imagine the Gogoro scooter being able to do those lights
2. Completely wireless key, just like a modern car
3. Always-on Bluetooth connection – you can simply do anything and everything with an app that you can download to your smartphone that would connect you to your Gogoro scooter. In fact, you can play with almost everything on the scooter, like the programmable lights and even download new sounds when you start-up the scooter, switch on the signals, and many more. With HTC as one of its investors and Luke being a once-designer of HTC, you can just imagine incorporating the smartphone features to the Gogoro scooter.
4. Speed – this scooter reaches a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour, compared to a Vespa which can run to a maximum limit of 57 mph.

The targeted market of the Gogoro smartscooter is in the Southeast Asia where 2-wheeled vehicles are a prime commodity simply because the Western world has not really taken into using 2-wheeled vehicles. Cities like Ho Chi Minh and Bangkok are considered ripe cities that Luke and the investors behind the Gogoro scooter are targeting. With weak environmental policies and increasing air pollution, this smartscooter is definitely the answer to a greener environment. With the help of this green 2-wheeled vehicle, you are not only helping the place by emitting cleaner smoke, you are also looking at lessening the need to purchase gas, which is going to pollute the air.

What’s more, when this smartscooter is becoming low on power, all you need to do is swap batteries in ‘Gostations’ and it would take less than a minute to load and you’re good to go. All of these: smartscooter and swapping of batteries would be a part of a subscription plan. There would be a monthly fee and what you pay for is the energy.

Batteries that you swap to power the smartscooter is in partnership with Panasonic. What’s more, these batteries were created with a smart circuitry so you cannot use it unless it’s for a Gogoro scooter. It’s as heavy as a bowling ball and it has a green ergonomic handle that you can easily place in the scooter. You can only use this smartscooter within the GoStations, hence, only within the city. It is definitely not a long-distance type of vehicle.

More importantly, because of the app that you download, your smartscooter is definitely smart as it is able to reserve a battery to wherever the nearest GoStation is to your current location. Now isn’t that a smart way to a cleaner environment and a reliable way to go places?