TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Sales of electric scooters in Taiwan surged dramatically in the first two months of the year, exceeding 7,000 units, while sales of traditional scooters fell.

There were 7,308 e-scooters sold in January and February, representing an increase of 132% over the same period last year, according to a press release by Gogoro, Taiwan's largest manufacturer of e-scooters. Meanwhile, sales of traditional scooters continued to wither, with new license plates for such vehicles plunging by 10.4% year over year.

Since March 2021, the number of new licenses for gasoline-powered scooters has posted year-on-year negative declines on a monthly basis. Gogoro argued that this demonstrates there has been a clear shift in consumer preference and that a "new era of electric scooters" has already begun.

In January this year, the number of newly licensed e-scooters reached 3,025, an increase of 109.6% from January 2021. Despite the fact that there were working days in February due to the Lunar New Year holiday, e-scooter sales were even better that month, with new licenses climbing to 4,283, an increase of 151.2% from last year and 41.6% more than January.

Scooter sales have seen positive year-on-year growth for five consecutive months. During this period, scooters that use battery swapping technology by Gogoro and Powered by Gogoro Network accounted for 6,874 units, or about 94.1% of overall e-scooter sales.

In the first two months of this year, 5,630 new Gogoro-branded scooters hit the road after receiving their plates, double the 2,175 recorded in the same period last year, a growth rate of 158.9%. The most popular model among consumers was the Gogoro VIVA series, with the Gogoro VIVA MIX model being the top seller for 12 consecutive months.

Of the new scooters sold in 2022, 97.5% used battery swapping technology, with 96.5% using the Gogoro battery swapping system. Plugin rechargeable scooters accounted for only 2.5% percent of new units during that period.