These days, pretty much everything is accessible with just a tap of your finger. From online shopping to food deliveries, it seems that we can have the entire world come to our doorstep through our smartphones. However, behind the scenes is a complex logistics network that makes all this happen.
Take Uber Eats, for example, an organization that fulfills millions of food deliveries all over the world, every single day. Considered by many as a trailblazer in the last-mile delivery segment, Uber Eats allows you to binge on your favorite food without leaving the comfort of your home. Depending on where you’re from, the food you’ve ordered via the app will be delivered to your doorstep either by car, motorbike, or bicycle. Naturally, like many companies with an eye on the future, Uber Eats wants to adopt a more sustainable workflow, and has struck a partnership with none other than Gogoro in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s bustling metropolis is the perfect place for a partnership of this type, as the country’s tech-driven infrastructure has innovation at its core. The partnership between Gogoro and Uber Eats, valued at nearly $30 million, began earlier in 2023, and offers Uber Eats couriers incentives and discounts for adopting clean and sustainable delivery practices. At present, the partnership has a timeframe of two years, and is funded by both companies. Uber Eats delivery riders are entitled to discounts on Gogoro Smartscooters, as well as priority access to battery swapping stations.
The goal of both Gogoro and Uber Eats is to ultimately double EV deliveries in the country from 20 percent to 40 percent by 2025. In the company’s official press release, Horace Luke, Gogoro’s CEO, highlighted the importance of introducing more sustainable urban mobility solutions. “One of the greatest challenges of our time is transforming urban transportation to cleaner sustainable energy. Through this partnership in Taiwan, Gogoro and Uber are reducing the barriers for Uber Eats riders to embrace and adopt smart mobility in all of their deliveries.”
Meanwhile, Chai Lee, the General Manager of Uber Eats Taiwan, sees potential for the company’s couriers to switch to electric, as it’s more convenient, user-friendly, and cost-effective. On top of that, he also highlights the long-term effects of adopting a more sustainable delivery system. “We have already seen how Uber Eats delivery partners have embraced Gogoro’s EV scooters and smart battery-swapping technology. Today’s agreement stands to supercharge this, bringing cleaner air to cities across Taiwan and helping us toward our goal of eliminating emissions on all global deliveries by 2040.”
While there are tons of other electric scooters that have the potential to reshape the delivery industry, Gogoro has an ace up its sleeve, and it’s none other than its revolutionary battery swapping technology. Thanks to the quick and easy access to the batteries, they can be swapped out in a matter of seconds – even faster than refueling a standard internal-combustion vehicle. At present, there are over 600,000 Gogoro Smartscooter riders and 1.3 million batteries in Taiwan, and it’s reported that these have saved over 785,000 tons of CO2 since 2015.
It’s no surprise then, that a partnership with the biggest food delivery platform has the potential to have major benefits for the environment. Uber Eats is partnered with more than 900,000 restaurants all over the world, and has recently shifted its focus on adapting more sustainable urban energy and mobility solutions. With millions of deliveries conducted each and every day, just imagine if all of these could be done on EVs.
