Eagle-eyed observers would have seen something changing on the streets of Indonesian cities. Electric motorbikes are starting to show up.
A handful of Electrum-branded e-motorbikes are in circulation now. Electrum is the joint venture company ride-hailing giant Gojek launched last year, together with one of Indonesia’s largest energy companies, TBS Energi. It was quite a surprise announcement. The company plans to enter electric two-wheeler (E2W) manufacturing, charging infrastructure development, and E2W financing.
Right now, Electrum’s actual bikes, as well as the battery swapping system they come with, are provided by a Taiwanese startup called Gogoro. Founded in 2011, Gogoro managed to scale its battery swapping technology in Taiwan to the point where it’s “doing about 330,000 battery swaps per day,” a company spokesperson told The Ken.