Gogoro’s portable battery charger could take its smart scooter to the masses

Gogoro is transforming the humble scooter, a commodity in many Asian cities, into a chic, head-turning vehicle. It’s a “geeky electric scooter with the soul of a motorbike,” says my colleague Erik Crouch.

But the Taiwanese company has one big problem. To use the pricey Smartscooter, you’d need to swap its battery at designated Gogoro battery stations deployed through the city. It’s a no-go if there isn’t a GoStation near you.

At CES, the company unveiled a potential solution. It’s introducing the GoCharger, essentially a minified and portable version of its GoStation. It can charge two batteries at a time. Its key feature though is that it connects to a wifi network, notifying other Smartscooter users in the area about its location.

So if you own a GoCharger, a fellow Gogoro user can arrive and swap battery packs at your location.

Gogoro Smartscooter with the GoStation.

It’s basically crowdsourcing its energy network. The company has an “open” intiative, in which it is inviting businesses to nominate their establishments as Gogoro charging hubs.

So far, Gogoro has established its network in three Taiwanese cities (including capital Taipei), with 140 GoStations distributed between them.

No pricing details for the GoCharger have been announced yet.

Follow our extensive coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show here.

This story resulted from a trip paid for by CES.