Hon Hai Precision Industry, which is more popularly known worldwide as Foxconn, has recently signed an MoU with electric scooter brand Gogoro to help accelerate the latter’s expansion plans in markets like India and China.
The partnership plan is the Taiwan-based Gogoro will continue to focus on product design, technology development, marketing and branding in battery swapping technologies and Smartscooters, while Foxconn said that it would handle the manufacturing.
Which straightaway leads us to the question whether Foxconn, which is a global assembler for phone-makers and now electric vehicles too, will set up a e-battery unit in India to keep up the supply lines for Gogoro.
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Gogoro looks to Foxconn for production
Gogoro, of course, has big plans for India. It may be recalled that in April Gogoro announced a team-up with India’s Hero MotoCorp. Under the joint venture, “powered by Gogoro” exchange stations will be set up by the Taiwanese company, and Hero will launch corresponding models.
Gogoro, even as it seeks to establish itself as the industry leader in battery swapping and urban refueling, needs to quickly scale its manufacturing to meet global demands. And that is where Foxconn comes in.
"Foxconn’s global manufacturing leadership, focus on new innovative technologies and commitment to sustainable electric transportation made it the perfect fit for Gogoro. Together, our companies will be on the forefront of rolling out smart mobility solutions in cities around the world," said Horace Luke, founder and CEO, Gogoro.
As it happens, news reports from Taiwan, where Foxconn is headquartered, say that Gogoro is likely to entrust the management of its plant in Linkou, New Taipei, to Foxconn and focus instead on R&D, product design and marketing. More importantly, they add that a similar cooperation in China and India is likely to follow.
This, of course, implicitly says that Foxconn will indeed get going with a battery assembling unit in India. Foxconn is basically expected to help Gogoro set up a battery production lines for e-scooters in India, where it (Foxconn) already manufactures iPhones for Apple and tech gadgets for other international brands.
Sources at Foxconn India said any announcement on this will have to come after it is cleared from the headquarters. TechRadar India reached out to the Taiwan company, but no formal response has been received so far.
Foxconn's plans on manufacturing batteries for EVs
In any case, Foxconn is consciously working to transition beyond pure manufacturing. It is promoting a "3 plus 3" initiative to diversify its product mix and boost its profit margins. The "3 plus 3" initiative refers to three emerging industries -- EVs, robots and digital healthcare. The development of electric vehicles is central to that initiative, as it is building an EV supply chain.
Foxconn recently signed a 7-year deal with electric carmaker Fisker Inc to develop and manufacture a new electric vehicle (EV) in the US.
Foxconn has also invested in the development of solid state batteries and lithium iron phosphate (LPF) batteries for electric vehicles. It has set a goal of developing a sample solid state battery and starting commercial production by 2024.
The Taiwan company has also been promoting an 'MIH Open Platform to provide solutions to EV developers, which it said will serve as the "Android of the EV car industry." So far, more than 1,600 firms worldwide have joined the platform.
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