Motorcycle giant Yamaha and electric scooter maker Gogoro, a pioneer in battery swapping technology, have announced the Yamaha EMF, the second electric vehicle collaboration between the two companies.
For the past 10 years, we have been following the rise and rise of electric vehicles. Most of the data concerns four-wheelers, sedans and SUVs and 2022 has been heralded as the year of the electric pickup, or ute as we know it in Australia.
But while then focus of our attention has been elsewhere, there has been a silent rEVolution in Asia – a massive surge in electric two-wheelers.
The EMF will be available in Taiwan, which has the highest scooter density in the world, in March.
According to Yamaha’s press release on the collaboration, partnering with Gogoro and launching the EMF will enable it to reduce Scope 3 CO2 emissions by 90% by 2050 compared to 2010 levels, thus meeting its goal of carbon neutrality.
“At the heart of Gogoro’s ecosystem is the Gogoro Network, a hyper-efficient battery swapping platform that was recognized in 2021 by Guidehouse Insights as the leading battery swapping company for lightweight urban vehicles in the world,” writes the company.
“With more than 450,000 riders and over 10,000 battery swapping GoStations at over 2,200 convenient locations, Gogoro Network is hosting 330,000 daily battery swaps with more than 250 million total battery swaps to date”
Gogoro was founded in 2011 as an innovative way to rethink urban transport particularly in densely populated cities. Not just a purveyor of motor scooters, Gogoro has established an entire ecosystem of support for sustainable two-wheeled transport.
The company has six vehicle maker partners including Hero (to roll out its Gogoro Network battery swapping in India), Yamaha, Aeonmotor, PGO, eReady, and eMOVING. Gogoro also manufactures its own scooters under the name Smartscooter.
Asked if we might see the Yamaha EMF in Australia any time soon, a Gogoro spokesperson commented:
“The Gogoro Network is currently available in Taiwan, China, Indonesia and coming to India and Israel later this year. We haven’t announced any plans for Australia, but if we ever did, our battery swapping with Yamaha’s EMF, and the other vehicles on our platform, would be super popular.”
Hopefully the time will come when we will have access to these affordable and versatile vehicles here in Australia. Laws will need to change and investments will need to be made. We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, there is always the Fonz Moto.
In 2019, Yamaha unveiled the EC-05, the first electric scooter to be borne out of its collaboration with Gogoro.
David Waterworth is a researcher and writer, a retired school teacher who continues to provoke thought through his writing. He divides his time between looking after his grandchildren and trying to make sure they have a planet to live on. He is long on Tesla.