Gogoro teams with Carrefour to boost number of outlets

By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter





Electric scooter vendor Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) said it is collaborating with hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan (家樂福) to broaden its sales network to accelerate vehicle sales.

The collaboration is to make Carrefour Gogoro’s first partner in expanding its sales network to target potential buyers for its vehicles.

Three Carrefour outlets in northern Taiwan, one each in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, are to start selling Gogoro’s Smartscooter from this month, adding to 12 existing stores operated by Gogoro.

“We are glad to have a partner from a different sector, Carrefour. From April 1, three Carrefour stores are to start selling our smart vehicles and provide test ride services,” Gogoro co-founder and chief executive officer Horace Luke (陸學森) said in a statement released on Wednesday last week.

Gogoro made the announcement one year after it started selling the Smartscooter.

As of February, Gogoro had sold 5,000 vehicles in total, taking a more than 44 percent share of Taiwan’s scooter market.

Gogoro only operates 12 brick-and-mortar stores, all in northern Taiwan, which might be due to the limited lithium-ion battery swapping network.

The number of battery swapping stations, or GoStations, has increased to 175, including those under construction, with all of them located in the nation’s northern cities, including Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu.

The company said that over the past year it has broadened its GoStation network to 21 MRT stations in Taipei, local convenience store chains and coffee shops, as well as those built in gas stations.

Gogoro’s Smartscooter can travel about 60km with a single charge.

The electric scooter company early this year launched a program called Gogoro OPEN Initiative to encourage homeowners and businesses to install its new mini-chargers in homes and retail stores to increase the number of places where Smartscooter riders can change batteries.