The problem with non-gasoline powered (electric ones to be specific) vehicles is that you do not find refilling stations very often. The range these vehicles offer would not let you wander too far away from your house or the closest refill station. The ridiculously long charging time is also a huge turn off. Things, however, are about to change in the near future with the arrival of the Smartscooter. And if this is how the future looks like, we would not care about growing old faster!
The Gogoro Energy Network developed Smartscooter is an eye candy to call the least. The plain vanilla bodywork comes with modern gadgets on-board. The Smartscooter receives an apron mounted LED headlight and a huge tail light that stretches underneath the pillion seat. The Smartscooter also gets a pair of disc brakes at the front as well as at the rear wheel. An all digital instrument cluster provides information such as battery charge level, speed, ODO, time and the telltale functions. Another feature is keyless entry. The rider is recognised by a key fob, both, by the Smartscooter and the battery kiosk.
Gogoro Energy Network is planning to develop a new infrastructure where electric scooter owners can directly switch the drained out batteries with fully charged one of the many kiosk installed across the cities. Gogoro claims that the entire process should not take more than 6 seconds. This infrastructure would give the users freedom from long charging time that the current vehicles suffer. Here is a detailed official video that displays the function of this new infrastructure. Currently, the smartscooter runs on a Panasonic 18650-size automative grade lithium ion cell.
The Smartscooter is powered by a liquid-cooled permanent magnet synchronous motor which delivers 8.6 hp of power and about 24Nm of torque. Gogoro claims a top speed of 60 miles per hour and a range of 60 miles for this scooter.
With its clean, minimalistic design philosophy with the touch of modern technology, the Smartscooter comes across as an Apple product and we must say is equally desirable. Do you like this new concept? Or would you fancy something more radical? Share your thoughts and opinions with us through comments below. Stay tuned to Motoroids for more updates from the motoring world.
