Yamaha and Taiwanese scooter manufacturer Gororo have announced a team-up with potentially interesting long term implications.
The deal sees Yamaha building a scooter, the new EC-05, with Gororo’s swappable battery technology and drivetrain design, and also using Gororo’s existing network of charging stations.
Yamaha is part of the Big Four’s consortium to examine swappable battery technology, but lags behind competitor Honda, which already has a scooter on the market with easily-removable quick-swap battery. Kawasaki is working on similar plans, and of course Yamaha is making this deal with Gororo because Gororo already has scooters with quick-swap batteries on the market, and has a network of battery-swap stations to keep them rolling.
Elektrek reckons the new Yamaha EC-05 will have a top speed in the area of 85-95 km, and a range of more than 100 km, due to its reliance on current Gororo technology. Not the sort of scooter that would work on the open roads of Saskatchewan, but maybe around downtown Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver?
We aren’t likely to see this scoot, or anything like it, anytime soon in Canada anyway, so no point speculating. However, Yamaha is undoubtedly learning very valuable lessons as it develops and operates this machine with Gororo’s help. Considering the interest from all four manufacturers in this type of electric two-wheeler design, these sort of scooters are almost guaranteed to make it here eventually.
Guys, it’s Gogoro, not Gororo