The Tesla of Scooters is Driving Asia's Two-Wheel Revolution - Forbes
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Transcript of The Tesla of Scooters is Driving Asia's Two-Wheel Revolution - Forbes
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 110
APR 15 2015 0601 AM 129182 VIEWS
The Tesla Of Scooters IsDriving Asias TwoshyWheelRevolution
Tech
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 210
This story appears in the May 4 2015 issue of Forbes Subscribe
Gogoro CEO Horace Luke (Photo credit Chris Stowers For Forbes)
Horace Luke wanted to be the first person in Taiwan with aTesla Model S when the gorgeous electric sedan debuted in2012 Luke the former chief innovation officer at smartphonemaker HTC is obsessed with beauty and function in allthings But his beloved Teslas were not sold in Taiwan (andstill arenrsquot) He thought about importing one but hisgirlfriend finally talked him out of it With no home garage tocharge it in hersquod have to juice it at the office and thuswouldnrsquot have use of it on the weekends
Teslas and other electric sedans may be gaining ground in the
Aaron TilleyFORBES STAFF
I cover hardware and chipmakers
FOLLOW ON FORBES
FULL BIO
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 310
US where roomy garages are the norm but Asiarsquos boomingurban centers present a hostile environment for the clean carrevolution The cost of a Tesla is way out of the reach of themasses and for the rising middle class in cramped apartmenttowers there are few good places to charge the cars let alonepark them
ldquoHow do you create a product for the 99rdquo says the 44shyyearshyold Luke a short man with thick blackshyframed glasses a headshaved clean and a giddy laugh he employs often ldquoWe need tocreate a product for themrdquo
Four years ago Luke and his former HTC colleague MattTaylor set out to do just that They left the corporate worldand launched a startup called Gogoro that brings to beardesign technology and marketing experience also honed atNike Microsoft and HTC to create an electric motorbikecalled the Smartscooter Debuting this summer in TaiwanGogororsquos bike is what yoursquod get if you mated a Vespa and aniPhone With an electric motor equivalent to a 125cc engine itaccelerates to 30mph in 42 seconds and maxes out at 60mphproducing a futuristic whirring sound as air moves throughthe frame You can open the trunk start the motor and pickfrom 129600 headlamp lighting combinations as well ascustom horn sounds via Bluetooth from a smartphone appGogoro hasnrsquot decided on a price but Luke says it would be inthe $2000 to $3000 range of Honda and Yamaha bikesubiquitous in Asia
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 410
The Gogoro scooter would cost quite a bit more than a normalbike given all its bells and whistles but Luke has made itaffordable through a clever businessshymodel twist Riderswonrsquot own the batteries Instead theyrsquoll pay a low monthly feeto swap portable batteries as needed from a network ofcharging stations Batteries eat up a huge chunk of an electricvehiclersquos cost Luke plans to make the bike even cheaperpossibly with an ecoshysubsidy from the Taiwanese government
Gogoro itself has plenty of financing having early on raised$40 million from Samuel Yin (estimated net worth $42billion) CEO of Ruentex Group which holds interests inretail financial services and real estate and $10 million fromHTC cofounder Cher Wang Luke is still closing on another$100 million round that will likely value the company at morethan $400 million
The batteryshyswap vehicle business model has been triedbeforendashand failed spectacularly Better Place the Israelielectric vehicle startup backed by billionaire Idan Ofer
Recommended by Forbes
Meet Gogoro theElectric ScooterComing to a MegacityNear You
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 510
burned through almost $1 billion trying to build a network ofhulking robotic battery vending machines that were supposedto cost $500000 each but ended up costing closer to $2million Better Place went bankrupt in 2013 but itscharismatic founder Shai Agassi still remains convinced hewas in the right ldquoThe concept and the technology workedextremely wellrdquo says Agassi ldquoIn the long term switching isactually cheaper than setting up charging stationsrdquo BetterPlacersquos bigger problem besides the fact that the cars wereugly was that it tried to expand to multiple countries beforenailing one market Luke studied Better Place closely to avoidits mistakes His batteryshycharging GoStations roughly the sizeof a snack vending machine can be screwed into placeanywhere therersquos an AC outlet and cost less than $10000apiece In less than a minute riders can pull up yank out the20shypound battery from a compartment under the scooterrsquosseat and be on their way The batteries wonrsquot work unlesstheyrsquove been authenticated to the rider via their smartphoneapp
Luke is focusing on getting the Taipei launch right thissummer before expanding to other megacities Gogoro istargeting about 16 stations per square mile to make itsbatteryshysharing scheme work and is getting prime real estatefor its GoStations in a deal with the Taiwanese governmentwhich owns about 75 of the countryrsquos gas stations Taiwanmakes for an ideal proving ground with 15 million scooters ina country of 23 million one of the highest scootershytoshyhumanratios in the world Around Taipei yoursquoll see entire families
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 610
packed atop a Honda or loads of propane tanks strapped tothe back seat of a Yamaha all of them spewing lungshychokingfumes
ldquoThis product could be very promising in the futurerdquo saysTaiwanrsquos premier Mao Chishykuo ldquoNot only could it be a goodsolution to solve our domestic transportation problemsndashIthink they could be adopted in other marketsrdquo
Born in Hong Kong to two accountants Luke moved with hisfamily to Seattle when he was 13 He went to the University ofWashington in Seattle where he studied industrial designwith a focus on furniture He made conceptual jewelry piecesand sold them to art collectors to pay for college Aftergraduation he worked in marketing at Nike but soon left forthe tech world at Microsoft Luke started a project insideMicrosoft called GoPC with the idea of shrinking down the PCto fit in your pocket But the technology wasnrsquot there to makeit small enough ldquoI learned that timing is everything Youmight have the brightest idea or be the most ambitious personand have all the funding you want but the world may not beready for itrdquo He later joined the team that began working onthe Xbox
In 2006 he moved back to Asia to be chief innovation officerat HTC where he could continue his dream of trying to fit theInternet in a pocket The iPhone introduced a year laterwould change everything and pretty soon he found himselfcollaborating closely with Andy Rubin the creator of the
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 710
Android operating system after he joined Googlersquos mobileteam
Luke lived for phones while at HTC He carried around six at atime But by 2011 he was burned out by the smartphone raceldquoEvery industry at a different time requires a certain type oftalentrdquo he says ldquoIt has entered into its evolutionary stageinstead of revolutionaryrdquo Since Luke left HTC the companywent into a steep financial decline from which it is only nowrecovering
The need for the new is palpable with Luke Over dinner at asoup dumpling restaurant in downtown Taipei he gets upfrom his seat and goes over to a window where customers canobserve workers carefully constructing each dumpling to haveexactly 18 intricate folds ldquoI couldnrsquot do that Itrsquos toorepetitiverdquo Luke laughs ldquoIrsquod try to innovate but theyrsquod kickme out If I wanted 19 folds firedrdquo
Throughout the late 2000s Luke and Taylor HTCrsquos chieftechnology officer had started talking about putting acompany together ldquoHorace had been talking about the idea ofsuperefficient transportationrdquo said Taylor ldquoAnd hersquos alwaysbeen a car nutrdquo Everywhere they went in Asia they saw citieschoking on clouds of scooter exhaust The two Gogorocofounders looked at what Tesla had borrowed from theDepartment of Energy to get the Model S onto the marketndash$465 millionndashand thought they could build a scooter for atenth of that
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 810
After raising $50 million from Wang and Yin the two thoughttheyrsquod be able to fastshytrack a new bike using offshytheshyshelfcomponents from Taiwanrsquos massive manufacturing base ButLuke soon realized that few suppliers would be able to meettheir performance demands The biggest supplier of electricmotors for example was more attuned to building motors forwashing machines and blenders So Gogoro had to set aboutbuilding almost everything itself Crucially it scored apartnership for its batteries with Panasonic Teslarsquos choice ofbattery supplier as well All the design and prototyping workhas been carried out in secret in a 266800shysquareshyfoot spacein a dusty industrial suburb 20 miles south of Taipei Lukehad the windows covered in white paper to block out curiousonlookers Inside the floors walls and ceilings have beenstripped to bare cement and its 364 employees all work in theopen Sprinkled around the office are expensive Robocop andIron Man toys Luke has collected that cost a couple ofhundred dollars apiece Plans call for another 400 hires thisyear many of whom will take up space in a building across thestreet with another five stories and 89000 square feet ofspace
The Gogoro Smartscooterrsquos sleek simple design has wonplenty of favorable comparisons to Apple products since itsunveiling in early 2015 The industrial designer in Luke seesparallels ldquoElectronics before needed a lot of specializedbuttons because the software wasnrsquot there yet Now the worldof design relies on softwarerdquo he responds ldquoThe world hasbecome more softwareshyoriented making things simplerrdquo
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 910
Reprints amp Permissions Report Corrections
Comment on this story
SEE ALSOLUXURY SUVS
CARS FOR UNDER $10K
ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE
YAMAHA SCOOTERS
TOP 5 ELECTRIC CARS
ELECTRIC POWERED
TESLA MODEL S
TOP 10 ELECTRIC
Clean transportation might as well be pushshybutton too
Follow me on Twitter aatilley or send me an emailatilleyforbescom
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 210
This story appears in the May 4 2015 issue of Forbes Subscribe
Gogoro CEO Horace Luke (Photo credit Chris Stowers For Forbes)
Horace Luke wanted to be the first person in Taiwan with aTesla Model S when the gorgeous electric sedan debuted in2012 Luke the former chief innovation officer at smartphonemaker HTC is obsessed with beauty and function in allthings But his beloved Teslas were not sold in Taiwan (andstill arenrsquot) He thought about importing one but hisgirlfriend finally talked him out of it With no home garage tocharge it in hersquod have to juice it at the office and thuswouldnrsquot have use of it on the weekends
Teslas and other electric sedans may be gaining ground in the
Aaron TilleyFORBES STAFF
I cover hardware and chipmakers
FOLLOW ON FORBES
FULL BIO
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 310
US where roomy garages are the norm but Asiarsquos boomingurban centers present a hostile environment for the clean carrevolution The cost of a Tesla is way out of the reach of themasses and for the rising middle class in cramped apartmenttowers there are few good places to charge the cars let alonepark them
ldquoHow do you create a product for the 99rdquo says the 44shyyearshyold Luke a short man with thick blackshyframed glasses a headshaved clean and a giddy laugh he employs often ldquoWe need tocreate a product for themrdquo
Four years ago Luke and his former HTC colleague MattTaylor set out to do just that They left the corporate worldand launched a startup called Gogoro that brings to beardesign technology and marketing experience also honed atNike Microsoft and HTC to create an electric motorbikecalled the Smartscooter Debuting this summer in TaiwanGogororsquos bike is what yoursquod get if you mated a Vespa and aniPhone With an electric motor equivalent to a 125cc engine itaccelerates to 30mph in 42 seconds and maxes out at 60mphproducing a futuristic whirring sound as air moves throughthe frame You can open the trunk start the motor and pickfrom 129600 headlamp lighting combinations as well ascustom horn sounds via Bluetooth from a smartphone appGogoro hasnrsquot decided on a price but Luke says it would be inthe $2000 to $3000 range of Honda and Yamaha bikesubiquitous in Asia
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 410
The Gogoro scooter would cost quite a bit more than a normalbike given all its bells and whistles but Luke has made itaffordable through a clever businessshymodel twist Riderswonrsquot own the batteries Instead theyrsquoll pay a low monthly feeto swap portable batteries as needed from a network ofcharging stations Batteries eat up a huge chunk of an electricvehiclersquos cost Luke plans to make the bike even cheaperpossibly with an ecoshysubsidy from the Taiwanese government
Gogoro itself has plenty of financing having early on raised$40 million from Samuel Yin (estimated net worth $42billion) CEO of Ruentex Group which holds interests inretail financial services and real estate and $10 million fromHTC cofounder Cher Wang Luke is still closing on another$100 million round that will likely value the company at morethan $400 million
The batteryshyswap vehicle business model has been triedbeforendashand failed spectacularly Better Place the Israelielectric vehicle startup backed by billionaire Idan Ofer
Recommended by Forbes
Meet Gogoro theElectric ScooterComing to a MegacityNear You
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 510
burned through almost $1 billion trying to build a network ofhulking robotic battery vending machines that were supposedto cost $500000 each but ended up costing closer to $2million Better Place went bankrupt in 2013 but itscharismatic founder Shai Agassi still remains convinced hewas in the right ldquoThe concept and the technology workedextremely wellrdquo says Agassi ldquoIn the long term switching isactually cheaper than setting up charging stationsrdquo BetterPlacersquos bigger problem besides the fact that the cars wereugly was that it tried to expand to multiple countries beforenailing one market Luke studied Better Place closely to avoidits mistakes His batteryshycharging GoStations roughly the sizeof a snack vending machine can be screwed into placeanywhere therersquos an AC outlet and cost less than $10000apiece In less than a minute riders can pull up yank out the20shypound battery from a compartment under the scooterrsquosseat and be on their way The batteries wonrsquot work unlesstheyrsquove been authenticated to the rider via their smartphoneapp
Luke is focusing on getting the Taipei launch right thissummer before expanding to other megacities Gogoro istargeting about 16 stations per square mile to make itsbatteryshysharing scheme work and is getting prime real estatefor its GoStations in a deal with the Taiwanese governmentwhich owns about 75 of the countryrsquos gas stations Taiwanmakes for an ideal proving ground with 15 million scooters ina country of 23 million one of the highest scootershytoshyhumanratios in the world Around Taipei yoursquoll see entire families
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 610
packed atop a Honda or loads of propane tanks strapped tothe back seat of a Yamaha all of them spewing lungshychokingfumes
ldquoThis product could be very promising in the futurerdquo saysTaiwanrsquos premier Mao Chishykuo ldquoNot only could it be a goodsolution to solve our domestic transportation problemsndashIthink they could be adopted in other marketsrdquo
Born in Hong Kong to two accountants Luke moved with hisfamily to Seattle when he was 13 He went to the University ofWashington in Seattle where he studied industrial designwith a focus on furniture He made conceptual jewelry piecesand sold them to art collectors to pay for college Aftergraduation he worked in marketing at Nike but soon left forthe tech world at Microsoft Luke started a project insideMicrosoft called GoPC with the idea of shrinking down the PCto fit in your pocket But the technology wasnrsquot there to makeit small enough ldquoI learned that timing is everything Youmight have the brightest idea or be the most ambitious personand have all the funding you want but the world may not beready for itrdquo He later joined the team that began working onthe Xbox
In 2006 he moved back to Asia to be chief innovation officerat HTC where he could continue his dream of trying to fit theInternet in a pocket The iPhone introduced a year laterwould change everything and pretty soon he found himselfcollaborating closely with Andy Rubin the creator of the
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 710
Android operating system after he joined Googlersquos mobileteam
Luke lived for phones while at HTC He carried around six at atime But by 2011 he was burned out by the smartphone raceldquoEvery industry at a different time requires a certain type oftalentrdquo he says ldquoIt has entered into its evolutionary stageinstead of revolutionaryrdquo Since Luke left HTC the companywent into a steep financial decline from which it is only nowrecovering
The need for the new is palpable with Luke Over dinner at asoup dumpling restaurant in downtown Taipei he gets upfrom his seat and goes over to a window where customers canobserve workers carefully constructing each dumpling to haveexactly 18 intricate folds ldquoI couldnrsquot do that Itrsquos toorepetitiverdquo Luke laughs ldquoIrsquod try to innovate but theyrsquod kickme out If I wanted 19 folds firedrdquo
Throughout the late 2000s Luke and Taylor HTCrsquos chieftechnology officer had started talking about putting acompany together ldquoHorace had been talking about the idea ofsuperefficient transportationrdquo said Taylor ldquoAnd hersquos alwaysbeen a car nutrdquo Everywhere they went in Asia they saw citieschoking on clouds of scooter exhaust The two Gogorocofounders looked at what Tesla had borrowed from theDepartment of Energy to get the Model S onto the marketndash$465 millionndashand thought they could build a scooter for atenth of that
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 810
After raising $50 million from Wang and Yin the two thoughttheyrsquod be able to fastshytrack a new bike using offshytheshyshelfcomponents from Taiwanrsquos massive manufacturing base ButLuke soon realized that few suppliers would be able to meettheir performance demands The biggest supplier of electricmotors for example was more attuned to building motors forwashing machines and blenders So Gogoro had to set aboutbuilding almost everything itself Crucially it scored apartnership for its batteries with Panasonic Teslarsquos choice ofbattery supplier as well All the design and prototyping workhas been carried out in secret in a 266800shysquareshyfoot spacein a dusty industrial suburb 20 miles south of Taipei Lukehad the windows covered in white paper to block out curiousonlookers Inside the floors walls and ceilings have beenstripped to bare cement and its 364 employees all work in theopen Sprinkled around the office are expensive Robocop andIron Man toys Luke has collected that cost a couple ofhundred dollars apiece Plans call for another 400 hires thisyear many of whom will take up space in a building across thestreet with another five stories and 89000 square feet ofspace
The Gogoro Smartscooterrsquos sleek simple design has wonplenty of favorable comparisons to Apple products since itsunveiling in early 2015 The industrial designer in Luke seesparallels ldquoElectronics before needed a lot of specializedbuttons because the software wasnrsquot there yet Now the worldof design relies on softwarerdquo he responds ldquoThe world hasbecome more softwareshyoriented making things simplerrdquo
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 910
Reprints amp Permissions Report Corrections
Comment on this story
SEE ALSOLUXURY SUVS
CARS FOR UNDER $10K
ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE
YAMAHA SCOOTERS
TOP 5 ELECTRIC CARS
ELECTRIC POWERED
TESLA MODEL S
TOP 10 ELECTRIC
Clean transportation might as well be pushshybutton too
Follow me on Twitter aatilley or send me an emailatilleyforbescom
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 310
US where roomy garages are the norm but Asiarsquos boomingurban centers present a hostile environment for the clean carrevolution The cost of a Tesla is way out of the reach of themasses and for the rising middle class in cramped apartmenttowers there are few good places to charge the cars let alonepark them
ldquoHow do you create a product for the 99rdquo says the 44shyyearshyold Luke a short man with thick blackshyframed glasses a headshaved clean and a giddy laugh he employs often ldquoWe need tocreate a product for themrdquo
Four years ago Luke and his former HTC colleague MattTaylor set out to do just that They left the corporate worldand launched a startup called Gogoro that brings to beardesign technology and marketing experience also honed atNike Microsoft and HTC to create an electric motorbikecalled the Smartscooter Debuting this summer in TaiwanGogororsquos bike is what yoursquod get if you mated a Vespa and aniPhone With an electric motor equivalent to a 125cc engine itaccelerates to 30mph in 42 seconds and maxes out at 60mphproducing a futuristic whirring sound as air moves throughthe frame You can open the trunk start the motor and pickfrom 129600 headlamp lighting combinations as well ascustom horn sounds via Bluetooth from a smartphone appGogoro hasnrsquot decided on a price but Luke says it would be inthe $2000 to $3000 range of Honda and Yamaha bikesubiquitous in Asia
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 410
The Gogoro scooter would cost quite a bit more than a normalbike given all its bells and whistles but Luke has made itaffordable through a clever businessshymodel twist Riderswonrsquot own the batteries Instead theyrsquoll pay a low monthly feeto swap portable batteries as needed from a network ofcharging stations Batteries eat up a huge chunk of an electricvehiclersquos cost Luke plans to make the bike even cheaperpossibly with an ecoshysubsidy from the Taiwanese government
Gogoro itself has plenty of financing having early on raised$40 million from Samuel Yin (estimated net worth $42billion) CEO of Ruentex Group which holds interests inretail financial services and real estate and $10 million fromHTC cofounder Cher Wang Luke is still closing on another$100 million round that will likely value the company at morethan $400 million
The batteryshyswap vehicle business model has been triedbeforendashand failed spectacularly Better Place the Israelielectric vehicle startup backed by billionaire Idan Ofer
Recommended by Forbes
Meet Gogoro theElectric ScooterComing to a MegacityNear You
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 510
burned through almost $1 billion trying to build a network ofhulking robotic battery vending machines that were supposedto cost $500000 each but ended up costing closer to $2million Better Place went bankrupt in 2013 but itscharismatic founder Shai Agassi still remains convinced hewas in the right ldquoThe concept and the technology workedextremely wellrdquo says Agassi ldquoIn the long term switching isactually cheaper than setting up charging stationsrdquo BetterPlacersquos bigger problem besides the fact that the cars wereugly was that it tried to expand to multiple countries beforenailing one market Luke studied Better Place closely to avoidits mistakes His batteryshycharging GoStations roughly the sizeof a snack vending machine can be screwed into placeanywhere therersquos an AC outlet and cost less than $10000apiece In less than a minute riders can pull up yank out the20shypound battery from a compartment under the scooterrsquosseat and be on their way The batteries wonrsquot work unlesstheyrsquove been authenticated to the rider via their smartphoneapp
Luke is focusing on getting the Taipei launch right thissummer before expanding to other megacities Gogoro istargeting about 16 stations per square mile to make itsbatteryshysharing scheme work and is getting prime real estatefor its GoStations in a deal with the Taiwanese governmentwhich owns about 75 of the countryrsquos gas stations Taiwanmakes for an ideal proving ground with 15 million scooters ina country of 23 million one of the highest scootershytoshyhumanratios in the world Around Taipei yoursquoll see entire families
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 610
packed atop a Honda or loads of propane tanks strapped tothe back seat of a Yamaha all of them spewing lungshychokingfumes
ldquoThis product could be very promising in the futurerdquo saysTaiwanrsquos premier Mao Chishykuo ldquoNot only could it be a goodsolution to solve our domestic transportation problemsndashIthink they could be adopted in other marketsrdquo
Born in Hong Kong to two accountants Luke moved with hisfamily to Seattle when he was 13 He went to the University ofWashington in Seattle where he studied industrial designwith a focus on furniture He made conceptual jewelry piecesand sold them to art collectors to pay for college Aftergraduation he worked in marketing at Nike but soon left forthe tech world at Microsoft Luke started a project insideMicrosoft called GoPC with the idea of shrinking down the PCto fit in your pocket But the technology wasnrsquot there to makeit small enough ldquoI learned that timing is everything Youmight have the brightest idea or be the most ambitious personand have all the funding you want but the world may not beready for itrdquo He later joined the team that began working onthe Xbox
In 2006 he moved back to Asia to be chief innovation officerat HTC where he could continue his dream of trying to fit theInternet in a pocket The iPhone introduced a year laterwould change everything and pretty soon he found himselfcollaborating closely with Andy Rubin the creator of the
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 710
Android operating system after he joined Googlersquos mobileteam
Luke lived for phones while at HTC He carried around six at atime But by 2011 he was burned out by the smartphone raceldquoEvery industry at a different time requires a certain type oftalentrdquo he says ldquoIt has entered into its evolutionary stageinstead of revolutionaryrdquo Since Luke left HTC the companywent into a steep financial decline from which it is only nowrecovering
The need for the new is palpable with Luke Over dinner at asoup dumpling restaurant in downtown Taipei he gets upfrom his seat and goes over to a window where customers canobserve workers carefully constructing each dumpling to haveexactly 18 intricate folds ldquoI couldnrsquot do that Itrsquos toorepetitiverdquo Luke laughs ldquoIrsquod try to innovate but theyrsquod kickme out If I wanted 19 folds firedrdquo
Throughout the late 2000s Luke and Taylor HTCrsquos chieftechnology officer had started talking about putting acompany together ldquoHorace had been talking about the idea ofsuperefficient transportationrdquo said Taylor ldquoAnd hersquos alwaysbeen a car nutrdquo Everywhere they went in Asia they saw citieschoking on clouds of scooter exhaust The two Gogorocofounders looked at what Tesla had borrowed from theDepartment of Energy to get the Model S onto the marketndash$465 millionndashand thought they could build a scooter for atenth of that
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 810
After raising $50 million from Wang and Yin the two thoughttheyrsquod be able to fastshytrack a new bike using offshytheshyshelfcomponents from Taiwanrsquos massive manufacturing base ButLuke soon realized that few suppliers would be able to meettheir performance demands The biggest supplier of electricmotors for example was more attuned to building motors forwashing machines and blenders So Gogoro had to set aboutbuilding almost everything itself Crucially it scored apartnership for its batteries with Panasonic Teslarsquos choice ofbattery supplier as well All the design and prototyping workhas been carried out in secret in a 266800shysquareshyfoot spacein a dusty industrial suburb 20 miles south of Taipei Lukehad the windows covered in white paper to block out curiousonlookers Inside the floors walls and ceilings have beenstripped to bare cement and its 364 employees all work in theopen Sprinkled around the office are expensive Robocop andIron Man toys Luke has collected that cost a couple ofhundred dollars apiece Plans call for another 400 hires thisyear many of whom will take up space in a building across thestreet with another five stories and 89000 square feet ofspace
The Gogoro Smartscooterrsquos sleek simple design has wonplenty of favorable comparisons to Apple products since itsunveiling in early 2015 The industrial designer in Luke seesparallels ldquoElectronics before needed a lot of specializedbuttons because the software wasnrsquot there yet Now the worldof design relies on softwarerdquo he responds ldquoThe world hasbecome more softwareshyoriented making things simplerrdquo
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 910
Reprints amp Permissions Report Corrections
Comment on this story
SEE ALSOLUXURY SUVS
CARS FOR UNDER $10K
ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE
YAMAHA SCOOTERS
TOP 5 ELECTRIC CARS
ELECTRIC POWERED
TESLA MODEL S
TOP 10 ELECTRIC
Clean transportation might as well be pushshybutton too
Follow me on Twitter aatilley or send me an emailatilleyforbescom
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 410
The Gogoro scooter would cost quite a bit more than a normalbike given all its bells and whistles but Luke has made itaffordable through a clever businessshymodel twist Riderswonrsquot own the batteries Instead theyrsquoll pay a low monthly feeto swap portable batteries as needed from a network ofcharging stations Batteries eat up a huge chunk of an electricvehiclersquos cost Luke plans to make the bike even cheaperpossibly with an ecoshysubsidy from the Taiwanese government
Gogoro itself has plenty of financing having early on raised$40 million from Samuel Yin (estimated net worth $42billion) CEO of Ruentex Group which holds interests inretail financial services and real estate and $10 million fromHTC cofounder Cher Wang Luke is still closing on another$100 million round that will likely value the company at morethan $400 million
The batteryshyswap vehicle business model has been triedbeforendashand failed spectacularly Better Place the Israelielectric vehicle startup backed by billionaire Idan Ofer
Recommended by Forbes
Meet Gogoro theElectric ScooterComing to a MegacityNear You
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 510
burned through almost $1 billion trying to build a network ofhulking robotic battery vending machines that were supposedto cost $500000 each but ended up costing closer to $2million Better Place went bankrupt in 2013 but itscharismatic founder Shai Agassi still remains convinced hewas in the right ldquoThe concept and the technology workedextremely wellrdquo says Agassi ldquoIn the long term switching isactually cheaper than setting up charging stationsrdquo BetterPlacersquos bigger problem besides the fact that the cars wereugly was that it tried to expand to multiple countries beforenailing one market Luke studied Better Place closely to avoidits mistakes His batteryshycharging GoStations roughly the sizeof a snack vending machine can be screwed into placeanywhere therersquos an AC outlet and cost less than $10000apiece In less than a minute riders can pull up yank out the20shypound battery from a compartment under the scooterrsquosseat and be on their way The batteries wonrsquot work unlesstheyrsquove been authenticated to the rider via their smartphoneapp
Luke is focusing on getting the Taipei launch right thissummer before expanding to other megacities Gogoro istargeting about 16 stations per square mile to make itsbatteryshysharing scheme work and is getting prime real estatefor its GoStations in a deal with the Taiwanese governmentwhich owns about 75 of the countryrsquos gas stations Taiwanmakes for an ideal proving ground with 15 million scooters ina country of 23 million one of the highest scootershytoshyhumanratios in the world Around Taipei yoursquoll see entire families
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 610
packed atop a Honda or loads of propane tanks strapped tothe back seat of a Yamaha all of them spewing lungshychokingfumes
ldquoThis product could be very promising in the futurerdquo saysTaiwanrsquos premier Mao Chishykuo ldquoNot only could it be a goodsolution to solve our domestic transportation problemsndashIthink they could be adopted in other marketsrdquo
Born in Hong Kong to two accountants Luke moved with hisfamily to Seattle when he was 13 He went to the University ofWashington in Seattle where he studied industrial designwith a focus on furniture He made conceptual jewelry piecesand sold them to art collectors to pay for college Aftergraduation he worked in marketing at Nike but soon left forthe tech world at Microsoft Luke started a project insideMicrosoft called GoPC with the idea of shrinking down the PCto fit in your pocket But the technology wasnrsquot there to makeit small enough ldquoI learned that timing is everything Youmight have the brightest idea or be the most ambitious personand have all the funding you want but the world may not beready for itrdquo He later joined the team that began working onthe Xbox
In 2006 he moved back to Asia to be chief innovation officerat HTC where he could continue his dream of trying to fit theInternet in a pocket The iPhone introduced a year laterwould change everything and pretty soon he found himselfcollaborating closely with Andy Rubin the creator of the
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 710
Android operating system after he joined Googlersquos mobileteam
Luke lived for phones while at HTC He carried around six at atime But by 2011 he was burned out by the smartphone raceldquoEvery industry at a different time requires a certain type oftalentrdquo he says ldquoIt has entered into its evolutionary stageinstead of revolutionaryrdquo Since Luke left HTC the companywent into a steep financial decline from which it is only nowrecovering
The need for the new is palpable with Luke Over dinner at asoup dumpling restaurant in downtown Taipei he gets upfrom his seat and goes over to a window where customers canobserve workers carefully constructing each dumpling to haveexactly 18 intricate folds ldquoI couldnrsquot do that Itrsquos toorepetitiverdquo Luke laughs ldquoIrsquod try to innovate but theyrsquod kickme out If I wanted 19 folds firedrdquo
Throughout the late 2000s Luke and Taylor HTCrsquos chieftechnology officer had started talking about putting acompany together ldquoHorace had been talking about the idea ofsuperefficient transportationrdquo said Taylor ldquoAnd hersquos alwaysbeen a car nutrdquo Everywhere they went in Asia they saw citieschoking on clouds of scooter exhaust The two Gogorocofounders looked at what Tesla had borrowed from theDepartment of Energy to get the Model S onto the marketndash$465 millionndashand thought they could build a scooter for atenth of that
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 810
After raising $50 million from Wang and Yin the two thoughttheyrsquod be able to fastshytrack a new bike using offshytheshyshelfcomponents from Taiwanrsquos massive manufacturing base ButLuke soon realized that few suppliers would be able to meettheir performance demands The biggest supplier of electricmotors for example was more attuned to building motors forwashing machines and blenders So Gogoro had to set aboutbuilding almost everything itself Crucially it scored apartnership for its batteries with Panasonic Teslarsquos choice ofbattery supplier as well All the design and prototyping workhas been carried out in secret in a 266800shysquareshyfoot spacein a dusty industrial suburb 20 miles south of Taipei Lukehad the windows covered in white paper to block out curiousonlookers Inside the floors walls and ceilings have beenstripped to bare cement and its 364 employees all work in theopen Sprinkled around the office are expensive Robocop andIron Man toys Luke has collected that cost a couple ofhundred dollars apiece Plans call for another 400 hires thisyear many of whom will take up space in a building across thestreet with another five stories and 89000 square feet ofspace
The Gogoro Smartscooterrsquos sleek simple design has wonplenty of favorable comparisons to Apple products since itsunveiling in early 2015 The industrial designer in Luke seesparallels ldquoElectronics before needed a lot of specializedbuttons because the software wasnrsquot there yet Now the worldof design relies on softwarerdquo he responds ldquoThe world hasbecome more softwareshyoriented making things simplerrdquo
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 910
Reprints amp Permissions Report Corrections
Comment on this story
SEE ALSOLUXURY SUVS
CARS FOR UNDER $10K
ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE
YAMAHA SCOOTERS
TOP 5 ELECTRIC CARS
ELECTRIC POWERED
TESLA MODEL S
TOP 10 ELECTRIC
Clean transportation might as well be pushshybutton too
Follow me on Twitter aatilley or send me an emailatilleyforbescom
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 510
burned through almost $1 billion trying to build a network ofhulking robotic battery vending machines that were supposedto cost $500000 each but ended up costing closer to $2million Better Place went bankrupt in 2013 but itscharismatic founder Shai Agassi still remains convinced hewas in the right ldquoThe concept and the technology workedextremely wellrdquo says Agassi ldquoIn the long term switching isactually cheaper than setting up charging stationsrdquo BetterPlacersquos bigger problem besides the fact that the cars wereugly was that it tried to expand to multiple countries beforenailing one market Luke studied Better Place closely to avoidits mistakes His batteryshycharging GoStations roughly the sizeof a snack vending machine can be screwed into placeanywhere therersquos an AC outlet and cost less than $10000apiece In less than a minute riders can pull up yank out the20shypound battery from a compartment under the scooterrsquosseat and be on their way The batteries wonrsquot work unlesstheyrsquove been authenticated to the rider via their smartphoneapp
Luke is focusing on getting the Taipei launch right thissummer before expanding to other megacities Gogoro istargeting about 16 stations per square mile to make itsbatteryshysharing scheme work and is getting prime real estatefor its GoStations in a deal with the Taiwanese governmentwhich owns about 75 of the countryrsquos gas stations Taiwanmakes for an ideal proving ground with 15 million scooters ina country of 23 million one of the highest scootershytoshyhumanratios in the world Around Taipei yoursquoll see entire families
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 610
packed atop a Honda or loads of propane tanks strapped tothe back seat of a Yamaha all of them spewing lungshychokingfumes
ldquoThis product could be very promising in the futurerdquo saysTaiwanrsquos premier Mao Chishykuo ldquoNot only could it be a goodsolution to solve our domestic transportation problemsndashIthink they could be adopted in other marketsrdquo
Born in Hong Kong to two accountants Luke moved with hisfamily to Seattle when he was 13 He went to the University ofWashington in Seattle where he studied industrial designwith a focus on furniture He made conceptual jewelry piecesand sold them to art collectors to pay for college Aftergraduation he worked in marketing at Nike but soon left forthe tech world at Microsoft Luke started a project insideMicrosoft called GoPC with the idea of shrinking down the PCto fit in your pocket But the technology wasnrsquot there to makeit small enough ldquoI learned that timing is everything Youmight have the brightest idea or be the most ambitious personand have all the funding you want but the world may not beready for itrdquo He later joined the team that began working onthe Xbox
In 2006 he moved back to Asia to be chief innovation officerat HTC where he could continue his dream of trying to fit theInternet in a pocket The iPhone introduced a year laterwould change everything and pretty soon he found himselfcollaborating closely with Andy Rubin the creator of the
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 710
Android operating system after he joined Googlersquos mobileteam
Luke lived for phones while at HTC He carried around six at atime But by 2011 he was burned out by the smartphone raceldquoEvery industry at a different time requires a certain type oftalentrdquo he says ldquoIt has entered into its evolutionary stageinstead of revolutionaryrdquo Since Luke left HTC the companywent into a steep financial decline from which it is only nowrecovering
The need for the new is palpable with Luke Over dinner at asoup dumpling restaurant in downtown Taipei he gets upfrom his seat and goes over to a window where customers canobserve workers carefully constructing each dumpling to haveexactly 18 intricate folds ldquoI couldnrsquot do that Itrsquos toorepetitiverdquo Luke laughs ldquoIrsquod try to innovate but theyrsquod kickme out If I wanted 19 folds firedrdquo
Throughout the late 2000s Luke and Taylor HTCrsquos chieftechnology officer had started talking about putting acompany together ldquoHorace had been talking about the idea ofsuperefficient transportationrdquo said Taylor ldquoAnd hersquos alwaysbeen a car nutrdquo Everywhere they went in Asia they saw citieschoking on clouds of scooter exhaust The two Gogorocofounders looked at what Tesla had borrowed from theDepartment of Energy to get the Model S onto the marketndash$465 millionndashand thought they could build a scooter for atenth of that
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 810
After raising $50 million from Wang and Yin the two thoughttheyrsquod be able to fastshytrack a new bike using offshytheshyshelfcomponents from Taiwanrsquos massive manufacturing base ButLuke soon realized that few suppliers would be able to meettheir performance demands The biggest supplier of electricmotors for example was more attuned to building motors forwashing machines and blenders So Gogoro had to set aboutbuilding almost everything itself Crucially it scored apartnership for its batteries with Panasonic Teslarsquos choice ofbattery supplier as well All the design and prototyping workhas been carried out in secret in a 266800shysquareshyfoot spacein a dusty industrial suburb 20 miles south of Taipei Lukehad the windows covered in white paper to block out curiousonlookers Inside the floors walls and ceilings have beenstripped to bare cement and its 364 employees all work in theopen Sprinkled around the office are expensive Robocop andIron Man toys Luke has collected that cost a couple ofhundred dollars apiece Plans call for another 400 hires thisyear many of whom will take up space in a building across thestreet with another five stories and 89000 square feet ofspace
The Gogoro Smartscooterrsquos sleek simple design has wonplenty of favorable comparisons to Apple products since itsunveiling in early 2015 The industrial designer in Luke seesparallels ldquoElectronics before needed a lot of specializedbuttons because the software wasnrsquot there yet Now the worldof design relies on softwarerdquo he responds ldquoThe world hasbecome more softwareshyoriented making things simplerrdquo
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 910
Reprints amp Permissions Report Corrections
Comment on this story
SEE ALSOLUXURY SUVS
CARS FOR UNDER $10K
ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE
YAMAHA SCOOTERS
TOP 5 ELECTRIC CARS
ELECTRIC POWERED
TESLA MODEL S
TOP 10 ELECTRIC
Clean transportation might as well be pushshybutton too
Follow me on Twitter aatilley or send me an emailatilleyforbescom
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 610
packed atop a Honda or loads of propane tanks strapped tothe back seat of a Yamaha all of them spewing lungshychokingfumes
ldquoThis product could be very promising in the futurerdquo saysTaiwanrsquos premier Mao Chishykuo ldquoNot only could it be a goodsolution to solve our domestic transportation problemsndashIthink they could be adopted in other marketsrdquo
Born in Hong Kong to two accountants Luke moved with hisfamily to Seattle when he was 13 He went to the University ofWashington in Seattle where he studied industrial designwith a focus on furniture He made conceptual jewelry piecesand sold them to art collectors to pay for college Aftergraduation he worked in marketing at Nike but soon left forthe tech world at Microsoft Luke started a project insideMicrosoft called GoPC with the idea of shrinking down the PCto fit in your pocket But the technology wasnrsquot there to makeit small enough ldquoI learned that timing is everything Youmight have the brightest idea or be the most ambitious personand have all the funding you want but the world may not beready for itrdquo He later joined the team that began working onthe Xbox
In 2006 he moved back to Asia to be chief innovation officerat HTC where he could continue his dream of trying to fit theInternet in a pocket The iPhone introduced a year laterwould change everything and pretty soon he found himselfcollaborating closely with Andy Rubin the creator of the
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 710
Android operating system after he joined Googlersquos mobileteam
Luke lived for phones while at HTC He carried around six at atime But by 2011 he was burned out by the smartphone raceldquoEvery industry at a different time requires a certain type oftalentrdquo he says ldquoIt has entered into its evolutionary stageinstead of revolutionaryrdquo Since Luke left HTC the companywent into a steep financial decline from which it is only nowrecovering
The need for the new is palpable with Luke Over dinner at asoup dumpling restaurant in downtown Taipei he gets upfrom his seat and goes over to a window where customers canobserve workers carefully constructing each dumpling to haveexactly 18 intricate folds ldquoI couldnrsquot do that Itrsquos toorepetitiverdquo Luke laughs ldquoIrsquod try to innovate but theyrsquod kickme out If I wanted 19 folds firedrdquo
Throughout the late 2000s Luke and Taylor HTCrsquos chieftechnology officer had started talking about putting acompany together ldquoHorace had been talking about the idea ofsuperefficient transportationrdquo said Taylor ldquoAnd hersquos alwaysbeen a car nutrdquo Everywhere they went in Asia they saw citieschoking on clouds of scooter exhaust The two Gogorocofounders looked at what Tesla had borrowed from theDepartment of Energy to get the Model S onto the marketndash$465 millionndashand thought they could build a scooter for atenth of that
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 810
After raising $50 million from Wang and Yin the two thoughttheyrsquod be able to fastshytrack a new bike using offshytheshyshelfcomponents from Taiwanrsquos massive manufacturing base ButLuke soon realized that few suppliers would be able to meettheir performance demands The biggest supplier of electricmotors for example was more attuned to building motors forwashing machines and blenders So Gogoro had to set aboutbuilding almost everything itself Crucially it scored apartnership for its batteries with Panasonic Teslarsquos choice ofbattery supplier as well All the design and prototyping workhas been carried out in secret in a 266800shysquareshyfoot spacein a dusty industrial suburb 20 miles south of Taipei Lukehad the windows covered in white paper to block out curiousonlookers Inside the floors walls and ceilings have beenstripped to bare cement and its 364 employees all work in theopen Sprinkled around the office are expensive Robocop andIron Man toys Luke has collected that cost a couple ofhundred dollars apiece Plans call for another 400 hires thisyear many of whom will take up space in a building across thestreet with another five stories and 89000 square feet ofspace
The Gogoro Smartscooterrsquos sleek simple design has wonplenty of favorable comparisons to Apple products since itsunveiling in early 2015 The industrial designer in Luke seesparallels ldquoElectronics before needed a lot of specializedbuttons because the software wasnrsquot there yet Now the worldof design relies on softwarerdquo he responds ldquoThe world hasbecome more softwareshyoriented making things simplerrdquo
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 910
Reprints amp Permissions Report Corrections
Comment on this story
SEE ALSOLUXURY SUVS
CARS FOR UNDER $10K
ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE
YAMAHA SCOOTERS
TOP 5 ELECTRIC CARS
ELECTRIC POWERED
TESLA MODEL S
TOP 10 ELECTRIC
Clean transportation might as well be pushshybutton too
Follow me on Twitter aatilley or send me an emailatilleyforbescom
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 710
Android operating system after he joined Googlersquos mobileteam
Luke lived for phones while at HTC He carried around six at atime But by 2011 he was burned out by the smartphone raceldquoEvery industry at a different time requires a certain type oftalentrdquo he says ldquoIt has entered into its evolutionary stageinstead of revolutionaryrdquo Since Luke left HTC the companywent into a steep financial decline from which it is only nowrecovering
The need for the new is palpable with Luke Over dinner at asoup dumpling restaurant in downtown Taipei he gets upfrom his seat and goes over to a window where customers canobserve workers carefully constructing each dumpling to haveexactly 18 intricate folds ldquoI couldnrsquot do that Itrsquos toorepetitiverdquo Luke laughs ldquoIrsquod try to innovate but theyrsquod kickme out If I wanted 19 folds firedrdquo
Throughout the late 2000s Luke and Taylor HTCrsquos chieftechnology officer had started talking about putting acompany together ldquoHorace had been talking about the idea ofsuperefficient transportationrdquo said Taylor ldquoAnd hersquos alwaysbeen a car nutrdquo Everywhere they went in Asia they saw citieschoking on clouds of scooter exhaust The two Gogorocofounders looked at what Tesla had borrowed from theDepartment of Energy to get the Model S onto the marketndash$465 millionndashand thought they could build a scooter for atenth of that
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 810
After raising $50 million from Wang and Yin the two thoughttheyrsquod be able to fastshytrack a new bike using offshytheshyshelfcomponents from Taiwanrsquos massive manufacturing base ButLuke soon realized that few suppliers would be able to meettheir performance demands The biggest supplier of electricmotors for example was more attuned to building motors forwashing machines and blenders So Gogoro had to set aboutbuilding almost everything itself Crucially it scored apartnership for its batteries with Panasonic Teslarsquos choice ofbattery supplier as well All the design and prototyping workhas been carried out in secret in a 266800shysquareshyfoot spacein a dusty industrial suburb 20 miles south of Taipei Lukehad the windows covered in white paper to block out curiousonlookers Inside the floors walls and ceilings have beenstripped to bare cement and its 364 employees all work in theopen Sprinkled around the office are expensive Robocop andIron Man toys Luke has collected that cost a couple ofhundred dollars apiece Plans call for another 400 hires thisyear many of whom will take up space in a building across thestreet with another five stories and 89000 square feet ofspace
The Gogoro Smartscooterrsquos sleek simple design has wonplenty of favorable comparisons to Apple products since itsunveiling in early 2015 The industrial designer in Luke seesparallels ldquoElectronics before needed a lot of specializedbuttons because the software wasnrsquot there yet Now the worldof design relies on softwarerdquo he responds ldquoThe world hasbecome more softwareshyoriented making things simplerrdquo
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 910
Reprints amp Permissions Report Corrections
Comment on this story
SEE ALSOLUXURY SUVS
CARS FOR UNDER $10K
ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE
YAMAHA SCOOTERS
TOP 5 ELECTRIC CARS
ELECTRIC POWERED
TESLA MODEL S
TOP 10 ELECTRIC
Clean transportation might as well be pushshybutton too
Follow me on Twitter aatilley or send me an emailatilleyforbescom
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 810
After raising $50 million from Wang and Yin the two thoughttheyrsquod be able to fastshytrack a new bike using offshytheshyshelfcomponents from Taiwanrsquos massive manufacturing base ButLuke soon realized that few suppliers would be able to meettheir performance demands The biggest supplier of electricmotors for example was more attuned to building motors forwashing machines and blenders So Gogoro had to set aboutbuilding almost everything itself Crucially it scored apartnership for its batteries with Panasonic Teslarsquos choice ofbattery supplier as well All the design and prototyping workhas been carried out in secret in a 266800shysquareshyfoot spacein a dusty industrial suburb 20 miles south of Taipei Lukehad the windows covered in white paper to block out curiousonlookers Inside the floors walls and ceilings have beenstripped to bare cement and its 364 employees all work in theopen Sprinkled around the office are expensive Robocop andIron Man toys Luke has collected that cost a couple ofhundred dollars apiece Plans call for another 400 hires thisyear many of whom will take up space in a building across thestreet with another five stories and 89000 square feet ofspace
The Gogoro Smartscooterrsquos sleek simple design has wonplenty of favorable comparisons to Apple products since itsunveiling in early 2015 The industrial designer in Luke seesparallels ldquoElectronics before needed a lot of specializedbuttons because the software wasnrsquot there yet Now the worldof design relies on softwarerdquo he responds ldquoThe world hasbecome more softwareshyoriented making things simplerrdquo
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 910
Reprints amp Permissions Report Corrections
Comment on this story
SEE ALSOLUXURY SUVS
CARS FOR UNDER $10K
ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE
YAMAHA SCOOTERS
TOP 5 ELECTRIC CARS
ELECTRIC POWERED
TESLA MODEL S
TOP 10 ELECTRIC
Clean transportation might as well be pushshybutton too
Follow me on Twitter aatilley or send me an emailatilleyforbescom
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 910
Reprints amp Permissions Report Corrections
Comment on this story
SEE ALSOLUXURY SUVS
CARS FOR UNDER $10K
ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE
YAMAHA SCOOTERS
TOP 5 ELECTRIC CARS
ELECTRIC POWERED
TESLA MODEL S
TOP 10 ELECTRIC
Clean transportation might as well be pushshybutton too
Follow me on Twitter aatilley or send me an emailatilleyforbescom
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
12132015 The Tesla Of Scooters Is Driving Asias TwoshyWheel Revolution shy Forbes
httpwwwforbescomsitesaarontilley20150415theshyteslashyforshytheshyrest 1010
Promoted Stories
1 Twilight Cast Then amp Now You Wont Believe How They Changed 3 days agothestircafemomcom The Stir CafeMom shy TheStir (sponsored) Style Savvy
2 Geeky Gifts for the Nerds on Your List 2 days ago pcmagcom PCMaghttpwwwpcmagcom IGW (sponsored)
