Gogoro, a technology company that provides battery-swapping ecosystems that enable sustainable mobility solutions for cities, signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to establish a new partnership with Sumitomo Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing (SMFL) to accelerate its global business expansion while providing Sumitomo the opportunity to expand its mobility business and second life battery use cases using Gogoro Smart Batteries and battery swapping.

“Gogoro’s innovative business ecosystem is designed to create broader business partnerships and business models that were not previously possible. Today, Sumitomo and SMFL are looking to accelerate Gogoro’s global business expansion while utilizing Gogoro Smart Batteries and battery swapping to drive expansion of their own mobility business and second life battery revenue,” Horace Luke, founder and CEO of Gogoro, said. “Together, Gogoro, Sumitomo and SMFL share a vision for accelerating the expansion of sustainable energy and transportation in the world’s most densely populated cities.”

Gogoro utilizes data from its smart batteries and battery swapping platform in an attempt to transform energy and make it more sustainable and accessible. Gogoro tracks dozens of parameters, including battery condition, population distribution and environmental conditions.

Sumitomo is involved in a range of areas in the automotive industry in Japan and overseas, from vehicle engineering and manufacturing to sales, after-sales service, and energy management. In the mobility services field, Sumitomo is involved in auto leasing, auto financing, EV-related business, individual subscription business, and parking lot business.

SMFL’s mid-term management plan strategy includes the realization of a circular economy, and it intends to promote the battery circular economy through the creation of a battery reuse and recycling business using Gogoro’s smart batteries and plans to seek new unique business opportunities using Gogoro’s smart batteries as a new asset class for mobile second-life sustainable energy usage.

“Gogoro’s potential partnership with Sumitomo and SMFL, a global leader in financing and leasing, would establish a new asset class using Gogoro Smart Batteries to create new business opportunities for Sumitomo and SMFL to utilize Gogoro’s batteries for expanding their mobility business as well as generating second life battery revenue,” Bruce Aiken, CFO of Gogoro, said. “Amongst the many new business opportunities, this partnership would enable a new asset-light expansion model for Gogoro that doesn’t require a large upfront capital investment while increasing the financial efficiency of our new markets.”