Gogoro Inc. (NASDAQ:GGR) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

In addition to the incentives, many cities are beginning to enforce a no ICE for logistics policy, making our strategy of serving B2B customers through battery swapping even more relevant. And all of these incentives will continue to play an important role in this electric transition. Gogoro’s mission is to drive a massive market shift to sustainable energy in cities through our smart battery swapping ecosystem. We’ve seen high demand in India for Gogoro’s battery swapping technology, and we’re excited about our commercial launch in collaboration with various partners. The biggest impact will come from the transition to smart sustainable electric transportation for last-mile delivery riders who cover significantly more distance than normal customers.

As policies encourage or mandate this migration, Gogoro has ready-made solutions including a superior vehicle experience and a super-efficient battery swapping ecosystem ready to lead the transition in India’s major cities. As Indian businesses increasingly prioritize sustainable transportation, basic tailored mobility solutions for logistics, delivery fleets and taxi services that not only offer a greener alternative to gas-powered vehicles, but also cater to India’s specific market and industry requirements. Gogoro provides rapid and reliable swap and go battery swapping ensuring constant availability and safety unlike tethered electric charging which demands dedicated parking and reduce rider flexibility and earnings while also having a poor track record on safety.

We look forward to collaborating with various partners aiming to facilitate sustainable delivery operations and to create new sustainable business prospects including utilizing Gogoro GoShare platform for fractional and shared mobility as a service deployments. The Philippines’ Gogoro network battery swapping service will officially launch in Q4. We’re pleased to be working with the Ayala Corporation, Globe, and Globe’s 917Ventures to offer both retail and Gogoro network battery swapping service in Manila. We opened a Gogoro Experience Center in Makati City in central Manila in early November. This innovative hub provides an immersive experience, allowing visitors to try out Gogoro smart scooters and learn about battery swapping. The experience center showcases a range of Gogoro smart scooters, and visitors can schedule a test ride to explore the features and experience of battery swapping and the riding experience of Gogoro smart scooters.

There are now five Go Stations up and running in Manila, and we look forward to launching more services and more vehicles during 2024. 2023 was quite a year for Gogoro, and I want to take a moment to reflect on some of the highlights of the year. Gogoro’s ecosystem including nearly 590,000 riders in Taiwan and over 2 million registered riders of Go Share covers 45 cities worldwide and support over 55 electric scooter models. We introduced our first locally made India vehicle, opened our first Gogoro experience center outside of Taiwan in the Philippines, and deepened our industry cooperation in South Korea and Singapore. We have now deployed over 12,000 Go Stations at more than 2,500 locations around Taiwan and an additional 500 locations in other markets.

In addition to the CrossOver launch, we collaborated with MUJI to release a popular line of vehicles which sold over 10,000 units in just the last few months of 2023. We also introduced Gogoro scooter key and Apple Wallet app and Apple’s Find My feature integration with Apple for two wheelers, and over 120,000 or 40% of our target customers have already activated this service. We have deployed Virtual Power Plant capability at over 1,000 location in conjunction with Enel X, and we’ve deployed approximately 1,000 smart parking meter in Taipei as well as providing backup power service for traffic lights at almost 200 of Taipei’s most critical intersections as well as elsewhere in Taiwan. These smart cities and second-life opportunities were exciting areas of development in 2023 and will continue to grow in 2024, providing additional revenue streams both immediately and in the future as batteries migrate from serving mobility to energy storage and second-life usage.

We continue to be recognized for our efforts. In 2023, we were awarded the honor of being an MIT Technology Review’s 15 top climate companies to watch globally. We were also recognized by Frost & Sullivan has 2023 Global Company of the Year for leading battery swapping for electric two-wheel. And our rideshare business, Go Share, was recognized as Asia Pacific Entrepreneurial Company of the Year for mobility sharing. At the beginning of 2024, I want to take this opportunity to thank our customers, suppliers, partners, shareholders, and our employees. Without the support and contribution of so many fellow travelers, our journey to electrification would be impossible. We appreciate your support, and we’re committed to continuing in this journey together in 2024 and beyond.

With that high-level overview of our Q4 and 2023 results, I’d like to invite Bruce to provide an update of our 2024 plan as well as our 2023 Q4 and full-year financials.

Bruce Aitken: Thanks for the strategy update, Horace. Allow me to expand on our financial outlook. 2024 is a year where we will focus on not only the Taiwan market but also on a number of growth opportunities. We estimate the 2024 market for two-wheeler sales in Taiwan will range from approximately 750,000 units to 850,000 units. We’re targeting growth from 2023 unit sales and market share and healthy growth in our Gogoro network from accumulating the subscriber base. To support this market growth, we’ve launched the Gogoro Pulse, our all-new flagship vehicle, which demonstrates what’s possible in an electric two wheeler. In the coming months, we have other product launches planned to continue to penetrate the more cost-conscious product segments while maintaining Gogoro’s focus on unique design, usability, and performance.

We’ve been working on these vehicles for some time and are excited to share them with our customers. In Taiwan, we’re expanding our channel via the continued build up of our Gogoro Quick Service stores. These allow for legacy scooter sales and repair shops to also sell and service Gogoro and partner-branded electric vehicles, creating upskilling and cross training opportunities for existing ICE scooter industry players. We have over 170 GQS stores in operation today and intend to keep growing the footprint all over Taiwan. Taiwan is expected to represent approximately 90% of our revenue in 2024. In international markets, we’re focusing on India, the Philippines, and continued growth in Korea, where there are already 10 partner-run retail locations and over 180 Go Stations in 18 cities.