Hero-Gogoro Electric Scooters Incoming. Should Ola Electric Be Worried?

The strategic partnership is to bring out Hero-branded electric scooters with Gogoro’s battery-swapping technology

• Gogoro is a Taiwan-based battery-swapping infrastructure provider.
• The partnership will give birth to electric two-wheelers designed and developed by Hero, but with Gogoro’s swappable-battery technology.
• The offerings are likely to be in the affordable segment, competing with the upcoming Ola Electric scooter.

(UPDATE: The Ola S1 has been launched in India with a starting price of Rs 99,999. Head here to read the launch story)

Hero MotoCorp has pretty much had an unchallenged rule among petrol-powered Indian two-wheelers. But now, the electric segment is fast gaining popularity, and Ola Electric has its eyes set on being one of the biggest electric scooter manufacturers in the country. 

In a bid to rival that attempt, Hero MotoCorp has entered into a strategic partnership with Taiwan-based battery-swapping infrastructure provider Gogoro to co-develop electric two-wheelers for India, and later, the world. 

How does the partnership work?

The partnership will see Hero MotoCorp design and develop Hero-branded electric two-wheelers with battery-swapping technology from Gogoro. In fact, Hero MotoCorp had been in talks with Gogoro for over a year, and the Hero eMaestro electric scooter has been in the works at Hero’s Global Centre Of Innovation And Technology (CIT), Jaipur. So, with the latest development, expect Hero to launch the eMaestro in the future with Gogoro’s battery-swapping feature. 

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In February 2020, Hero MotoCorp announced it would be spending Rs 10,000 crore over the next five to seven years on product development, new production plants, and brand outreach. A part of the budget could be allocated for this new electric vehicle development as well. 

Hero MotoCorp’s manufacturing expertise:

The partnership will also help leverage Hero MotoCorp’s manufacturing expertise to build Hero electric vehicles at a large scale, first catering to the Indian market and then the international segment. Looks like only Hero will be able to match Ola Electric’s plans of churning out an electric scooter every two seconds. Other electric two-wheelers like the Bajaj Chetak and TVS iQube Electric aren’t being built at the scale Ola Electric and Hero MotoCorp are gunning for.

Gogoro’s technological prowess:

Gogoro has been in the industry since 2011. Its battery swapping platform, the Gogoro Network, has over 2,000 swap stations in Taiwan, managing over 2,65,000 daily battery swaps. Moreover, the company claims the battery can be swapped in just about six seconds, helped by a fully digitised process (without cash payment or pin entry). Moreover, with this versatile platform, it should be easier to leverage the latest battery technology. Gogoro’s latest third-gen battery pack offers up to 170km claimed range (tested with a 63kg rider riding on a flat surface at 30kmph). 

Launch Timeline:

Pawan Munjal, Managing Director of Hero MotoCorp, said, “...We are not giving any timeline to anyone today. Having said that, now, I’m a man in a hurry…”. So expect Hero MotoCorp to make a formal announcement of its first Gogoro-partnered electric two-wheeler soon. 

Will Ather Energy be affected in any way?

Hero MotoCorp already has a majority stake of 34.58 percent in Ather Energy. However, the latter has its own battery pack assembled at a cellular level and designed particularly for the Ather 450X. It is likely that Ather will continue with its own battery pack. That said, Hero MotoCorp does have access to the premium electric scooter, thanks to its stake in Ather Energy. So, the maker of the Splendor could gain technical knowledge from Ather. The future sure looks exciting!