U Power (UCAR) has launched Southeast Asia’s first operational smart battery-swapping station in Phuket, Thailand.
The Thailand station is said to integrate U Power’s UOTTA battery charging and swapping system technology to improve the transmission of data and station control logic.
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The inauguration of the Thailand station comes after U Power’s delivery of the first battery-swapping compatible taxi fleet in Southeast Asia this May.
This development is part of a joint venture (JV) with SUSCO and represents the first fully operational smart battery-swapping station in the region, specifically catering to electric taxis as well as ride-hailing fleets.
The station supports multi-model compatibility and is equipped for future Level 4 autonomous vehicles. This paves the way for “unmanned, automated battery swaps”.
The Thailand station, which is said to be weather-resistant, is dubbed as the region’s first zero-carbon battery-swapping station and will feature the company’s battery-bank system, incentivising EV drivers with battery tokens for swapping activities.
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By GlobalDataU Power chairman and CEO Johnny Lee said: “The Thailand Station represents U Power’s first fully automated EV energy replenishment model, integrating next-generation AI technologies into a weather-resilient and intelligent infrastructure.
“We are confident that this business model will serve as a replicable paradigm across the broader ASEAN region, as well as Southern Europe and South America.”
U Power’s JV with SUSCO aims to deploy smart swapping infrastructure based on UOTTA across the latter’s network of around 1,000 fuelling stations in Thailand.
The partnership aims to set up facilities for various vehicles, including taxis, buses, and logistics fleets, to accelerate the country’s green mobility initiatives.
April 2025 saw U Power, in partnership with UNEX EV and CP-MG, deliver its first batch of swappable EVs in Phuket.
Building on its success in Thailand, U Power noted that it is expanding to Singapore by introducing a second hub by launching its ESP model.
Along with its partners, the company is planning to deploy 50 UOTTA swapping stations, introduce 5,000 battery-swappable EVs, and retrofit 300 current taxis within three years.
After its Southeast Asia and Hong Kong deployments, a JV named ELMO was formed by U Power with Portugal’s National Taxi Association and is negotiating station development with European energy provider Galp.
Additionally, U Power is set to introduce its first station in Peru in collaboration with local ride-hailing platform Ualabee.
In February 2025, U Power partnered with SAIC Motor-CP to integrate battery-swapping technology for the latter’s MG brand vehicles in Thailand.
