EXCLUSIVE: How Gogoro Is Capitalizing On An EV Market Opportunity You Might Not Even Know About

Battery swap company Gogoro Inc GGR went public at the beginning of April via SPAC merger with Poema Global Holdings Corp.

Gogoro is focused on enabling battery swap capabilities for two-wheeled vehicles. Since the United States largely uses four-wheeled vehicles, the company wanted to use the SPAC route to public markets in order to better explain the market opportunity to investors, Gogoro CEO Horace Luke said Friday on "Benzinga Live."

More than 500 million vehicles with two wheels travel from point a to point b in Asia each day, Luke said, which accounts for half of the global urban commute miles that are traveled on a daily basis.

In India, 80% of miles traveled daily are done by individuals using two-wheeled vehicles, he noted. But the most eye-opening statistic may be related to gasoline usage.

"Sixty percent of all gas spent every year is spent on two-wheelers, but most of the people in the West don't understand that," Luke said.

Understanding The Opportunity: Gogoro's business model is unique. The company's battery swap technology allows people to move through cities in smarter and more sustainable ways.

"If you think about the four-wheel space and four-wheel charging, there's a lot of competitors out there," Luke said. "In the space of two wheel, where you've got great two-wheel technology and then you've got great, kind of, refueling infrastructure, you know, it's really hard for you to probably name another brand out there, another company tackling this problem."

Luke has a history of working with electronics. His past experience includes product design work on the Microsoft Corp MSFT Xbox and smartphone development at HTC Corp, which helped him recognize the two-wheel battery swap market opportunity in Taiwan.

When Gogoro entered the Taiwanese market in 2015, only 1% of vehicles sold were made by Gogoro, but that number climbed to roughly 12% last year, Luke said.

By not including the battery in the purchase equation, Gogoro is able to help consumers make a more affordable switch to electric vehicles, he said. The battery swap ability also creates more flexibility.

Gogoro's battery swap stations are more like ATM machines than traditional gas stations.

"They're placed in bus stops, convenience stores, supermarkets, parking lots, underneath apartment buildings," Luke said. "It's kind of like a pass-by location instead of a destination like gas stations."

The Gogoro CEO went on to talk about scaling up, different product offerings and more. See the full interview below:

GGR Price Action: Gogoro has traded between $7.40 and $17.59 over a 52-week period.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, the stock closed down 7.6% at $6.93.

Photo: courtesy of Gogoro.