If you’ve been following electric scooter developments for the past few years, you’re probably familiar with two Taiwanese scootering giants: Gogoro and Kymco. Since it burst onto the scene several years ago, Gogoro has been a dominant player in the electric scooter space. After all, battery-electric scooters and the Powered by Gogoro Network infrastructure are what the brand is all about. Kymco, meanwhile, has recently pivoted into its own electric scooter ecosystem, called Ionex. It’s best known for its combustion scooters, but it’s not afraid to venture into the new territory that electrification represents.
Ever since 2016, Gogoro has taken its scooters racing in Taiwan’s TSR (Taiwan Sprint Riders) National Championship. In 2017, TSR held a spec-racing series featuring the Gogoro S, and has since held other electric-only racing competitions as well. It’s taken until 2022 for Gogoro and Kymco’s electric scooters to meet each other in all-out competition at the track—but now, it’s all happening at last.
Naturally, the course used must be something appropriate to the machines at hand. TSR uses a mini-bike/karting course, which keeps the racing action to a scale that provides challenge, enjoyment, and interest both to racers and spectators alike. In 2022, both Gogoro and Kymco are racing in TSR’s electric bike class. There are six races in the series, with the first one having already taken place in April, 2022.
How did the two OEMs do in that first race? In a way, you might say that Gogoro had something of a home-field advantage, since Gogoro scooters have been involved in TSR events for the past few years already. By that metric, Kymco’s Ionex electric brand is the young, scrappy upstart—even though parent company Kymco has been around for decades. That makes it all the more impressive that the team qualified first, third, and fifth in its first outing, set a new fast lap record, and eventually went on to scoop up its first race win as the cherry on top.
There are five more races to go in the 2022 TSR Bike championship—so the competition between Gogoro and Kymco Ionex is far from over. No doubt, the competition will remain fierce throughout the remaining races. As you can see in the video, racing is racing—no matter whether it’s scooters or motorcycles, using combustion or electric power. Have humans always wanted to go fast and prove their skills against each other in friendly competition? It seems like it, and it also seems like that isn’t going to change any time soon.
