Ride-sharing company Gogoro, which developed its own battery-swapping platform, will be announcing its India plans on November 3. The company announced a partnership with two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp last year. The two companies aimed to bring electric bikes and scooters that would be using the battery-swapping platform in India. Gogoro has already seen considerable success in bringing out EV-two-wheelers using the battery-swapping platform in countries like Taiwan.
Gogoro would be unveiling its 6-second battery-swapping pilot in New Delhi, reported YourStory. It would be the company’s third operational pilot after Singapore and Indonesia. The company may be aiming to bring products for the logistic sector as it said it aimed to ‘decarbonise’ the sector.
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Battery swapping or battery-as-a-service (BaaS) allows EV owners to replace the discharged batteries with fully charged ones at swapping stations. When the battery is discharged, the owner can replace it with a fully charged one. Battery-swapping platforms allow for vehicles to rapidly ‘top up’ as the time to switch out a battery is shorter than the time to fully charge a depleted battery. It also addresses the problem of setting up charging stations across the country and also reduces the range anxiety of drivers.
Battery swapping can drastically reduce the upfront cost of EVs, cutting down costs by at least half. Consumers will have a wider portfolio of models to pick from, one that suits their style and needs. The right regulations and policies, like the Draft Battery Swapping Policy developed by NITI Aayog, can also help batteries be interoperable across models and make.
In terms of the state of battery swapping in India, the platform has already started to see slow progress. Over a dozen companies are already operating battery-swapping stations in the country with 232 battery-swapping stations in the capital of New Delhi alone.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
