Electric mobility leader Gogoro and renowned Japanese lifestyle brand Muji have joined forces in an exciting collaboration to address plastic waste and promote sustainability.
The partnership, spearheaded by esteemed Muji designer Naoto Fukasawa, has resulted in a series of special edition smart scooters and a line of co-branded merchandise.
Dubbed the “Recycling for Good” initiative, the collaboration aims to tackle the issue of polypropylene plastic waste by incorporating recycled plastic body panels into their new electric scooters.
The two innovative models unveiled under this partnership are the Viva ME and the Viva Mix ME, both personally curated by Naoto Fukasawa himself.
Drawing inspiration from Muji’s signature design philosophy, the scooters showcase rustic colors, sleek bodywork, and a user-friendly interface.
In a statement, Fukasawa emphasized the importance of design integrity, stating, “The most important thing in design is that it must always uphold the spirit of integrity towards people, the environment, and life.”
Beyond using recycled materials, the “Recycling for Good” initiative aims to foster a lifestyle change, encouraging individuals to be more conscious about plastic waste. By incorporating eco-friendly designs and fostering collaboration between two popular brands, Gogoro and Muji envision a greater impact than the sum of their parts.
Gogoro battery swapping technology is a revelation, not only it is convenient but also it pushes the electric mobility industry to greater heights.
Gogoro battery swapping system to be available in Manila.
Gogoro and SmartScooters will be used by the delivery service industry.
Also, the innovation allows Gogoro to record a huge spike in expansion in recent years.
After opening its doors to several countries around Asia, Gogoro will now make its way to the Philippines.
That said, Gogoro has announced a new strategic partnership with 917Ventures whereby the battery swapping technology will cater to the highly popular delivery service industry.
“Gogoro is honored to have the support of the Philippine’s Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to kick start this new smart mobility movement in Manila that utilizes Gogoro’s intelligent battery swapping, a new generation of EV refueling.
“Through our collaboration with Globe, 917Ventures and Ayala Corporation, we plan to unlock incredible environmental and sustainability benefits and introduce new smart mobility efficiencies for businesses by improving how they manage their fleets and deliveries,” said Horace Luke, founder and CEO of Gogoro.
Before implementing the battery swapping system at a full pace, there will be a pilot test conduct in the city of Manila which will also involved SmartScooters, that is powered by Gogoro’s Swap & Go battery system.
Using Gogoro’s battery swapping system and SmartScooters, 917Ventures hopes that it’ll kickstart the nation initiatives towards a greener future.
“We are committed to helping solve the climate crisis by introducing Gogoro to logistics businesses, helping them in their sustainability efforts. In addition, the Swap & Go technology will enable riders to be fully charged in just seconds and therefore eliminate the need for parking spots. Hopefully, this technology will encourage more Filipinos to switch to EV,” expalined Vince Yamat, Managing Director of 917Ventures.
Imagine having a scooter which you will never have to refuel again. All it asks is that you recharge it whenever needed, and will get you where ever you want in an urban setting.
We are talking about the new Kymco Like 125 EV.
With a near retro design, the Like 125 EV is capable of giving you a range of 199km on a single charge. It is powered by a 3,200 watt motor that gives the rider around 4.3 horsepower.
It has 27-litres of underseat storage, which is enough to store three batteries, which when combined, gives the 125 EV its spectacular range.
The batteries are from Kymco’s own Ionex battery technology, which the company claims needs just one hour to charge.
And if you wondering about battery fade, Kymco says each battery will be able to be charged roughly 1000 times over its lifetime.
What is the Ionex Battery?
Kymco introduced the Ionex as a response to Gogoro’s electric scooters complete domination of the Taiwanese market.
According to The Taipei Times in March of 2021, Gogoro sold 345,190 electric scooters as compared to Kymco’s 19,215.
This prompted Kymco’s president to announce that the Ionex will be a spin off brand to Kymco, much like Ducati’s Scrambler.
In Taiwan, the brand is known simply as Ionex, but around the world, it is known as Kymco Ionex.
One of the key factors to the success of both Gogoro and Ionex is the use of swappable battery stations. This is perfect to counter range anxiety, and is ideal for delivery riders who can simply walk in, swap batteries and get on their way again.
And so Ionex too has been rolling out swappable battery stations of its own, and plans to have 4,000 stations around Taiwan by the end of 2022.
To ensure it meets its target, Ionex has partnerships with four major local companies: President Chain Store, Chunghwa Telecom, Fubon Insurance, and Carrefour Taiwan.
All four existing companies have multiple locations around Taiwan, and provide the ideal location for Ionex swap stations to be built.
Back to the Kymco Like 125 EV
And it is this model that will ensure the success of the Kymco Like 125 EV, in Taiwan at least. But around the world, its good looks and feature packed body will increase its appeal.
The Like 125 EV weighs in at just 94 kilograms, and is able to connect to smartphones via an application to access information such as speed and battery levels. The display is of course fully digital.
As for its price, the Kymco Like 125 EV costs about 1,200 Euros, which is less than RM6,000, making it the perfect solution to urban mobility.
It is unlike that this model will be introduced in Malaysia since the charging infrastructure is still in its infancy, but for our readers based elsewhere – this is quite a good solution to electric urban mobility.
Stesen penukaran bateri dan skuter Gogoro – Sumber imej Nikkei Asian Review
Empat buah pengeluar motosikal utama di Jepun, iaitu Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, dan Suzuki akan bekerjasama bagi membangunkan teknologi bateri motosikal.
Mereka sedang berusaha membangunkan teknologi penukaran bateri bagi mengatasi tempoh pengecasan yang panjang.
Yamaha sudah mula bekerjasama dengan Gogoro di Taiwan bagi membangunkan teknologi penukaran bateri ini.
The four Japanese motorcycle manufacturers namely Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha will work together to develop motorcycle batteries.
They should be working on battery swapping technology to overcome long charging times.
Yamaha is already working with Gogoro in Taiwan for battery swapping.
The four Japanese motorcycle manufacturers namely Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha will work together to develop motorcycle batteries.
The joint effort is to combat the bane of current electric motorcycles: Charging times. Make that long charging times. As such, they should be coming up with a solution to swap low-power or depleted batteries with fully charged ones.
Their solution should be similar to Gogoro’s, which is currently in operation in Taiwan. Electric bike riders visit a charging station, pull out the depleted battery in their motorcycles, insert it into the charging station and swap it for a fully-charged one.
Yamaha is already working with Gogoro on this solution in the island state.
Gogoro first entered the Taiwanese market in 2015. Since then, 750 GoStations have been installed, catering to some 17 million battery swaps. The company is targeting 3,000 stations, ultimately.
Honda and Yamaha are the strongest players in the electric motorcycle sector among the four manufacturers. But with the dateline for electric vehicles looming on the horizon, Kawasaki and Suzuki need to hustle in producing their own electric bikes. Most European countries will revert to new electric vehicles only in a decade or so, while phasing out fossil fuel vehicles.
Malaysia, without a doubt is still lagging far behind. Currently, only luxury cars are hybrid or electric. Consequently, the infrastructure is built by these manufacturers to cater for their own cars.
Motorcycle charging or battery swapping stations? Forget about it. The Malaysian government ought to step this up quickly.
A new electric scooter concept was unveiled recently at the 2015 Consumer Electronic Show or CES in the US, yes we know many have been cropping up ever since electric vehicles have become mainstream only to fade off into nothing, but this scooter may actually change and revolutionise the whole landscape of the motoring world. (more…)
