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Gogoro, a Taiwan-founded electric smartscooter manufacturer, announced to enter into the Europe market by opening its first overseas Gogoro Experience Boutique in Amsterdam by summer of 2016. The Experience Boutique will be Gogoro’s first station to expand its service, technology and concept of energy network and smart city in Europe.
At this year’s Esposizione Internazionale Ciclo e Motociclo e Accessori expo in Milan, Italy, Gogoro unveiled its decision to build the first Gogoro Experience Boutique outside of Taiwan. Furthermore, Gogoro has been invited to join the Amsterdam Smart City (ASC) for developing and sharing experiences and technologies about energy network, smart city and urban energy management. Gogoro will also build GoStation for battery exchange for Smartscooter EVs as part of the global expansion.
"Amsterdam is widely considered a forward thinking global leader in smart city innovation and we are excited to be welcoming Gogoro to Amsterdam as a participant in Amsterdam's Smart City Experience Lab and as Gogoro's first European market," said Ger Baron, CTO at the City of Amsterdam. "Electric transport is not only the future, but happening right now. The next wave of innovation is the integration of electric vehicles into the energy grid, EV charging and storage will be part of the energy-internet. Gogoro is now bringing scooters to the 21st century and connecting them to the smart energy ecosystem."
As part of its expansion, Gogoro will be opening a Gogoro Experience Boutique in Amsterdam in the first half of 2016 and additional cities later in 2016. The boutiques will provide hands-on and highly interactive experiences for consumers to learn about the Gogoro Smartscooter™ EV through a curated gallery demonstrating Gogoro's craftsmanship, technology, style and personalization.
Taiwan’s National Development Fund Sponsors Global Expansion
Taiwan’s National Development Fund (by Executive Yuan), Panasonic and Ruentex Group together added US$130 million of sponsoring fund to Gogoro, increasing the smartscooter innovator’s capital up to US$180 million. The additional fund supports Gogoro to further develop electric scooters, energy management systems and smart city technologies as well as expand its services overseas.
Panasonic also became Gogoro’s first strategic partner through the additional fund. The global electric product manufacturer supplies li-ion batteries for Gogoro.
In Taiwan, about 2,000 Smartscooters have been authorized for drive. There are around 90 GoStation battery exchange stations in northern Taiwan.
(Photo Credit: Gogoro)