G-bike, which operates the personal mobility (PM) sharing platform GCOO, has announced the launch of the next-generation domestic shared electric scooter ‘K2’. Starting with a scale of 500 units in Ansan on the 22nd of this month, there are plans to expand nationwide within the year.
As the term 'Global boiling' suggests, in a reality where extreme weather is tangibly felt, demand for shared mobility services that combine the shared economy and carbon neutrality is increasing worldwide. Consequently, PM is expected to become a major means of transport in the future.
With this perspective, the PM industry has shifted its competitive structure from quantity-centered to quality-centered, focusing on design, safety, and ride comfort. GCOO intends to strengthen its competitiveness by providing PMs that meet customer needs through direct manufacturing.
GCOO first commercialized the domestically produced shared electric scooter 'Gcooter K' in October 2020, an industry first. With this experience, GCOO introduces the 'K2', significantly improved in safety and efficiency.
G-bike, which has been the number one user base since October 2020 thus positioning itself as Korea's leading PM sharing service company, is said to have taken the PM industry to the next level by independently developing the K2 model, thereby securing core technologies for PM device manufacturing.
The K2 model is designed based on Korean safety standards and usage environment to match the local operating conditions and user characteristics. An ergonomic design is applied to the curved handle structure to prevent fatigue from long hours of riding, and the center of gravity of the footboard is lowered to enhance boarding safety, making it easy for beginners to ride.
Additionally, the new battery pack of K2 can be universally used for electric scooters and e-bikes and features a removable battery that is easy to install and remove. In the future, users can easily replace charged batteries through a Battery Sharing Service (BSS) infrastructure. This is expected to lead to more efficient operations by reducing battery replacement costs and labor costs, which in turn can enhance service competitiveness.
By the end of this year, a model equipped with Advanced IoT (AIoT) is also planned to be released. The AIoT-equipped K2 is capable of predicting accidents for automatic device control and can precisely detect inconvenient parking in real-time. Therefore, it is expected to contribute to improved urban aesthetics and reduced traffic accidents.
The K2 model from G-bike is also planned to be used in the United States, demonstrating the global competitiveness of domestic PMs by exporting not only the PM sharing service but also the devices themselves.
GCOO CEO Jong-soo Yoon stated, "In a fiercely competitive domestic shared PM market, we have dedicated nearly three years to developing K2 to secure distinctiveness," and that "we aimed to make it the safest and most comfortable PM in the world." He added, "Not only two-wheelers but also three- to four-wheel PMs and electric wheelchairs that are easy for the 50s and 60s generations to use will be expanded to achieve mobility innovation."
