Gogoro - A new electric scooter that you can't plug in.

Post #397,846 by Another Scott 1/5/15 9:27:15 AM Reply	Gogoro - A new electric scooter that you can't plug in. http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/5/7484171/gogoro-smartscooter-electric-scooter-removeable-battery Interesting. I hope they've got deep enough pockets to make a go of it. Cheers, Scott.
Post #397,847 by a6l6e6x 1/5/15 10:04:55 AM Reply	With battery DRM? Sounds like scooter that owns you. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #397,848 by Another Scott 1/5/15 10:40:45 AM Reply	Yeah, the details in the subscription matter a lot...
Post #397,859 by static 1/5/15 6:44:07 PM Reply	It looks like a well-thought out idea, actually. Maybe they've looked at history and seen how petrol stations were built and run decades ago. Actually, I can see these scooters working real well in dense East and South East Asian cities. Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #397,860 by drook 1/5/15 7:39:07 PM Reply	Saw this idea discussed when Tesla was new -- Drew
Post #397,865 by static 1/5/15 8:50:50 PM Reply	We shall see, then. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #397,870 by Ashton 1/6/15 1:58:03 AM Reply	Conspicuously absent: price points.. for this Unicorn in gestation. He seems aware of the myriad of serial/parallel dependencies upon a successful complete System, but also targets not merely the affluent but.. probably those already afflicted with severe Affluenza. Maybe there are enough of those in Asia for proof of concept? Maybe too, he can be cajoled into lowering his fancy-encoded DRM: the battery packs themselves might best be both vetted and promoted, simultaneously as Universal power packs: maybe via inverters and such, capable of everything from dumping a charge into an auto battery or running lots of LED lights in home power failures: the more the merrier of such side-games? Still and all, it seems to spawn a statistical nightmare re #-charging-spots VS est. usage initially.. then long-term: all needing constant monitoring and the cross-shipping of batteries ... of various charge-cycle ages. Cost of the scooter: that has to be a major determinant of success. At least, there should be quite less maintenance than any petrol-powered machine, but if it costs nearly as much as the smallest e- econo-boxes already ascheming.. I mean: prices of modern Vespas eclipse new cost of my Kawa KZ-550 4 cyl. That trend makes something of a ROI-farce of the going-Green brigade (much as VW's price for the Good-diesel made that also a luxury purchase.) Am a bit leery of such tiny wheels, given potholes in (at least Murican cities) as will likely increase, as with all the other deferred maintenance. Betting he's gonna have mostly 12-hour days, for the duration, but if he can stand that schedule.. it's pretty neat looking. I'd still want an at-home charger to be an option--especially if the battery pack does become multi-purpose. Tall oaks from little acorns grow. (I drove my Lambretta to L.A. and back; at that time it was as miraculous a (both practical and sleek) device as this might be. Still and all: the Matchless 500 twin that replaced it, demonstrated that scooters are unforgiving; handle not nearly so well as regular cycle configuration: there will be neophyte casualties. And maybe a few Darwin awards.)
Post #418,063 by CRConrad 5/9/17 9:27:45 AM 5/9/17 9:27:45 AM Reply	Anybody heard anything about how that went? + Some random thoughts. Yeah, of course I could google for myself. I will, once I have the time. Just thinking that by now -- it's been a little over two years -- at least we'll know whether it flopped immediately. Thoughts: 1) The DRM seems sucky, but I guess they thought they had to because otherwise others would free-ride on the infrastructure they built. 2) But why do they want to build a proprietary infrastructure in the first place? OK, the tech will have to be proprietary in their model, but why do they want to (as I understood it) build and operate separate facilities, service points? If you want something on every other street corner in a large metropolitan area, wouldn't franchising into existing facilities be the way to go? Just put one of your charging / battery-swap stations into every tobacconists / nespaper agent / drugstore / copy shop / bookmaker's / McDonald's / Starbucks / whatever, that you can sign up...? 3) Which brings us back to #1: This would be a lot more attractive for the franchisees if trade in these were even more brisk. So team up with other purveyors of power-using stuff -- toolmakers like Makita / Ryobi / Stihl; camping equipment makers, to drive the heater / cooker / lights / whatevs in your boat, caravan, tent or cabin-in-the-woods; computer / tablet / phone makers, for when you're travelling far / staying in your boat/tent/cabin for a really long while ("I can run my iPad for three days straight on my [GeneriBrand] power bank!" -- "Oh yeah? I can run my Lenovo tablet for six weeks on my Gogoro battery."); all kinds of "toy or not?" mobility devices from "hoverboards" and "wonderwheels" over electro-kick-scooters to Segways; perhaps even other similar scooters from "cooperpetitors"... They'd have to either skip the DRM, or sign everyone up to the same DRM infrastructure, but so what? That's basically how everyone on the Web works with the big players in social media, so it oughta be possible here too. 4) As DrooK mentioned, this is how we all thought -- when we were younger and batteries didn't charge anywhere near as fast as they do nowadays -- that an electric car ecosystem would have to work. And why couldn't it? Having separate Tesla batteries and Ford batteries and Fiat batteries and Chrysler batteries and Mercedes batteries and Nissan batteries and Kia batteries and Jaguar batteries and... *still* sounds about as smart as having separate Ford fuel and Fiat fuel and Chrysler fuel and Mercedes fuel and Nissan fuel and Kia fuel and Jaguar fuel and... -- Christian R. Conrad Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi (Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)

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