Chinese battery swapping solutions provider U Power and Dutch company UNEX EV have opened Southeast Asia’s first smart battery swapping station in Phuket, Thailand. The duo have serious expansion plans using this facility as a pilot model.
The new battery swapping station in Phuket marks the first major milestone of U Power’s joint venture with Susco, a Thai energy conglomerate. The Chinese battery swapping station specialist says this facility is its first outlet catering specifically to electric taxis and ride-hailing fleets outside mainland China.
U Power has deployed its UOTTA fully automated battery swapping technology at its first facility in Phuket. The process takes only three minutes and requires no manual input. The new battery swapping station supports multiple EVs, and the company has configured it to comply with futuristic models featuring Level 4 autonomous driving capability as well.
According to a report from Prachachat.net, U Power has invested 15 million baht (nearly 400,000 euros) in the new battery swapping station in Phuket. The company can serve 100 cars per day at the first location and is planning eleven more outlets, including a second one in Phuket and ten in Bangkok.
While the first battery swapping station is for cars and thus entailed less investment, some future locations will serve commercial vehicles and trucks and may require a significantly higher investment of at least 50 million baht (approximately 1.3 million euros). Following Thailand, U Power plans to open battery swapping stations in Singapore, and then even Malaysia. The company expects to obtain clarity about the expansion plans later this year.
In April 2025, U Power, in partnership with UNEX EV and SAIC-CP MG, delivered 21 units of MG EP, a battery-swapping enabled version of the pre-facelift MG5 EV, to Auto Drive EV Public Co., Ltd. The latter provides electric taxi rental services in Phuket and Bangkok, and U Power’s battery swapping stations will serve the new fleet of modified electric estates.
media-outreach.com, prachachat.net
