Taiwanese electric two-wheeler maker Gogoro has postponed its ambitious plans for India because New Delhi has yet to launch a battery swap, a company executive said. In the meantime, the company has started a trial run of bike taxis with aggregator Rapido to test the vehicles before a commercial launch.
Gogoro will have to “wait until the incentives scheme is finalized” by the Indian government, Gogoro co-founder and CEO Horace Luke said during the company’s second-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday.
“We had expected revenue in India in 2024, but most of the revenue is now expected to be in 2025 due to delays in implementation of subsidies, including for battery-powered vehicles,” the executive told investors.
Luke also highlighted that the company is working with the Indian Ministry of Heavy Industries to ensure that the expected iteration of the government’s Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (or FAME 3) policy brings the same benefits it previously offered to electric vehicle charging to battery-swapping vehicles and infrastructure.
In 2019, the Indian government launched FAME 2 with a budget of USD 1.19 billion (IDR 10,000 crore) to provide subsidies to domestic EV buyers. This was expanded to over USD 13 billion in February this year, but the scheme was to run until March 31.
Despite the delay in its original plans, Gogoro is bullish on India as its home market languishes. In December, the company began its expansion into the Indian market by launching a battery swap network and three smart scooters.
“We are still operating at a loss and we are continuing to invest in growth because we believe the markets we are targeting are ripe for electric vehicle innovation. India, Southeast Asia and other markets are ripe for electric vehicle innovation,” Luke said on the earnings call.
Executives said Gogoro has launched a pilot program with ride-sharing startup Rapido, but did not provide further details.
Rapido co-founder and CEO Aravind Sankar confirmed to TechCrunch that the pilot has now begun in New Delhi and that the company plans to have a fleet of around 1,000 Gogoro vehicles.
Sanka said the company will decide whether to expand depending on the success of the pilot program.
Gogoro began looking at India as its next big market in 2021, partnering with Indian auto major Hero MotoCorp. It also invested $1.5 billion in Maharashtra last year and backed EV fleet management startup Zypp Electric in a $25 million round to test its operations in India.
On the earnings call, Luke said Gogoro is “actively working with five local electric two-wheeler OEMs in India and have started vehicle testing for deployment of these vehicles powered by Gogoro network solutions.”
“These collaborations will enable us to bring a range of products to market at lower price points, and commencing testing of these solutions represents an exciting step forward as we expand our presence and offer a wider range of vehicle options to our B2B customers in India,” he said.
In an interview with TechCrunch last year, Luke said the company had invested “tens of millions of dollars” in India and planned to invest more.
In Q2, Gogoro confirmed over 6,500 backlog orders for Pulse and JEGO vehicles, worth $12.3 million. However, the company noted in its 2024 guidance that the two-wheeler market in Taiwan had weakened and that “strong sales” of JEGO had put pressure on average selling prices.
