Gogoro has announced a partnership with DCJ and Yadea, to deploy a new electric refueling system in China using Gogoro's battery swapping platform. The partnership brings together three industry leaders that share a vision for the future of sustainable two-wheel transportation in China and are committed to establishing smart infrastructure that will enable its urban growth.
"Asia's most populated cities are beginning to adopt cleaner urban transportation systems for their millions of scooter and motorcycle riders by leveraging innovative electric refueling solutions like Gogoro battery swapping," said Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize winner, former Vice President of the United States, and co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management, which is an investor in Gogoro. "Gogoro's partnership with Yadea and DCJ in China, which builds upon their existing work with Hero MotoCorp in India, sends a clear signal that the world's two-wheel leaders are helping to fuel sustainability revolution in Asia with smart battery swapping."
Key to the partnership, DCJ and Yadea will develop a range of two-wheel vehicles built for the Gogoro Network battery swapping platform. Vehicles produced under this partnership will take advantage of the Powered By Gogoro Network program that gives Gogoro's vehicle maker partners the capability to merge their vehicle technology with Gogoro's intelligent drivetrains and controllers, components, and smart systems.
"Introducing a new era of sustainable urban transportation in China takes industry leaders like DCJ, Yadea, and Gogoro coming together with a shared vision to embrace new business models and technologies that set the stage for a better future," said Horace Luke, founder, and CEO, Gogoro Inc. "We all share an ambitious vision for changing how China's cities operate in smarter and cleaner ways and the Gogoro Network was created to provide an easy path forward for simple and sustainable electric refueling of two-wheel vehicles with smart battery swapping."
As the top motorcycle maker in China, DCJ has led the gas-powered motorcycle market in sales for 18 consecutive years with more than 2 million sold per year. As the global leader in all-electric two-wheel vehicles, Yadea is also one of the global two-wheel vehicle leaders overall, selling more than 10 million electric two-wheel vehicles in 2020.
Climate Commitments Spark EV Growth
As the largest investor, producer, and consumer of renewable energy, China has made significant climate change plans. It has established new regulations for electric two-wheel vehicles that will retire 270 million vehicles that don't meet new quality and safety requirements by 2025. Some local city governments are also instituting new electric refueling regulations to ensure safer and easier electric refueling for riders in cities.
"Yadea has the vision to inspire a movement towards greener transportation and lead the two-wheel industry into the future. As a global leader in electric two-wheel vehicles, Yadea is committed to creating environmentally-friendly high-tech vehicles and our strategic cooperation with Gogoro continues this commitment," said Dong Jinggui, chairman, Yadea Technology Group Co. Ltd. "Gogoro's innovative battery swapping technology will provide cities with a better electric refueling system that greatly reduces consumer anxiety on battery life and range as well as usage costs. It will introduce a brand-new mobility experience that is safer and more convenient while reducing the carbon footprint of our customers. We are changing the future of mobility and introducing a new generation of green energy."
Commercialization
DCJ and Yadea have invested in a new operating company in China that will be responsible for deploying the Gogoro battery swapping infrastructure and managing it in the future. The first Gogoro battery-swapping network is expected to launch in one city this year with additional cities to follow in 2022.
"To achieve the national strategic goal of 'emission peak and carbon neutrality and to reduce emissions, motorcycle electrification from 'fuel to electricity is an irreversible path. DCJ will increase investment in this field to achieve rapid development," said Li Jianjun, executive director of the board, Jiangmen Dachangjiang Group Co., Ltd. (DCJ). "Today, battery swapping technology is the best solution to solve various pain points of electric vehicles. Gogoro owns the world's leading battery swapping technology. Yadea is a global leader in electric two-wheelers. The strong combination of the three parties will help quickly get Gogoro's battery swapping network up and running in the Chinese market. The goal is to provide safer and more reliable mobility services for the general public."