Chinese company U Power is bringing its UOTTA battery swap solution, which has not been widely used to date, to Europe and South America. The first markets are Portugal and Peru, where U Power has entered into partnerships in the taxi sector.
For its expansion into Europe, U Power has expanded its UOTTA battery exchange solutions with a new compact battery exchange station with eight slots, which will be delivered to the Portuguese taxi association ANTRAL in the first half of 2025. With a footprint of just 90 square metres, the space-saving design of the station is specially conceived for dense urban environments. U Power expects the station to be able to carry out 30 to 50 exchanges per day. The modular design also allows for future capacity expansion.
“Since launching UOTTA in 2020, U Power has built a comprehensive solution portfolio that serves all vehicle types, with customizable configurations to meet specific operational needs. For instance, our taxi-focused swap stations can handle up to 200 swaps daily through flexible battery and channel combinations,” said Li Jia, Chairman and CEO of U Power. “More importantly, our battery-swapping solution offers compelling economics compared to traditional fast-charging infrastructure. When evaluating total investment costs – including land use, grid upgrades, and equipment – swapping stations require lower capital investment while serving the same number of taxis and mileage. This advantage is particularly crucial in European cities where space constraints make large charging stations impractical, making our swapping technology the optimal solution for electrifying taxi fleets.”
However, U Power is not disclosing which vehicle models will be able to use the swapping stations. However, an earlier press release from June 2024 stated that the company would provide ANTRAL with 120 compatible vehicles and install two battery swapping stations on site.
In a further announcement, U Power announced that it would also be bringing its UOTTA system to Peru. There, the company will work with moto-taxi operator Treep Mobility to provide its battery-swapping technology for two- and three-wheel electric vehicles. U Power has already successfully completed a pilot project in Peru, which included two operational battery-swapping stations, one electric tricycle and ten electric two-wheelers. Following the pilot project, Treep Mobility now plans to convert its fleet of petrol-powered vehicles to UOTTA’s battery swap model, with an expected total order volume of over USD 1 million.
“The Moto Taxi market represents an enormous opportunity in Peru and South America,” said Jia Li, Chairman and CEO of U Power. “There are over 100,000 registered moto-taxis in Peru alone, and more than 300,000 new electric three- and two-wheelers are added in South America every year. The partnership with Treep Mobility demonstrates that the battery swap model is a more economical, convenient and profitable choice for companies using three- and two-wheeled motorbikes for passenger transport and delivery services. We are convinced that more companies like Treep Mobility in South America will work with us to achieve sustainable business growth.”
Several companies have been working on battery swap models for years. The best known is probably the Chinese electric car manufacturer Nio, which already has over 3,000 fully automated battery swap stations in China. There are 59 in Europe, 19 of which are in Germany. This week, Nio announced that it had worked with other players in the industry to develop a German DIN standard for battery swap systems. The series of standards, which is due to be published soon, will form the basis for the development of proprietary battery swap systems across manufacturer boundaries by creating a common denominator.
The battery giant CATL has also been building its own network of fully automated battery exchange stations in China since 2022, which is set to comprise 10,000 locations in a few years’ time. The system should soon be compatible with electric cars from various manufacturers. Also worth mentioning is the US startup Ample, which recently received an investment of 25 million US dollars from Mitsubishi Corporation, a trading and investment company from Japan that is independent of car manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors. In the two-wheeler sector, on the other hand, there are battery replacement systems that allow the user to change the battery themselves, such as the African electric motorcycle manufacturer Spiro.
prnewswire.com (Portugal), prnewswire.com (Peru)
