Indian EV makers 'not doing it right', says Gogoro CEO Horace Luke

About 95 per cent of Indian electric vehicle (EV) makers are “not doing it right” and a lot of them are developing products in an ad hoc manner without consideration of safety, durability, and quality, said Horace Luke, chief executive and co-founder of Taiwaneese EV major Gogoro.

The company operates approximately 80 per cent of EVs in Taiwan.

There have been multiple EV fire incidents in India this year involving companies, such as Okinawa Autotech, Ola Electric, Pure EV, and Boom EV, following which they recalled specific batches of EVs from the market.

Luke on Thursday launched Gogoro in India with a pilot project in collaboration with ZyppElectric. In the pilot, Gogoro’s 100 vehicles with its trademark swappable batteries will be deployed with B2B riders in Delhi to gather data. The company will also establish six battery-swapping stations in Delhi under the pilot project.

Gogoro’s existing products, batteries, and swapping stations are being tested in India to know how to successfully commercialise them in the country with a partner or partners eventually, Luke told reporters. Will Gogoro launch its own EVs in India? “We don’t know that yet,” Luke replied.

He said the pilot would go as long as it was required to get sufficient data, after which the company will decide its future course of action.

The CEO said there was too much excitement in India regarding EVs. “There are a lot of people rushing into creating shiny bits (products), and creating solutions that are put together in an ad hoc manner without consideration of safety, durability, quality, and usability. That is where Gogoro comes in,” Luke said. He said Gogoro did not enter the Indian market earlier because it was not ready.  

Gogoro’s own electric scooters — S1, Viva, SuperSport, Delight, etc. — are sold in Taiwan and other countries. India’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp had in April last year signed a pact with Gogoro to establish a battery-swapping network across the country and collaborate on EV development. 

Luke said the collaboration with Hero MotoCorp was open and a “work in progress”. Gogoro is free to launch its own vehicles and battery-swapping ecosystem in the country, he added.

He said Gogoro’s battery swapping ecosystem should help the Indian EV industry build itself. “There are 200 EV makers in India. I would say that 190 of them are not doing it right. But can they do it right? Have they seen a battery swapping system? Can they use one to build their business? Should there be 200 EV makers? Maybe. Maybe not,” Luke noted.

He said Gogoro would be able to provide comprehensive real world data from India that will come from usage of its battery-swapping ecosystem (during the pilot project). He asked the Indian EV makers if this was something that could help them build their business on. “I think those kinds of conversations are healthy ones,” he said. 

Brands like Yamaha and Suzuki are using Gogoro’s swappable batteries. “Gogoro and partners have about 95 per cent market share in Taiwan,” Luke said.