On a recent morning in an industrial zone near Hong Kong’s lively cargo, a white MG Electric Taxi slid into a narrow kiosk that resembled car wash. A hydraulic elevator increased the vehicle and made it possible for a guided mechanical system to pull out the stored battery of the taxi and replace it with a fully charged person. There was no constipation, no charging. The taxi was ready for the street in less than three minutes.
This battery-driven kiosk is the first of U-Power, a little-known startup from Shanghai, which aims to electrify the striking heart of the known taxi fleet.
The opportunity is huge. In Hong Kong, electric vehicles account for only 4% of the city’s 119,000 commercial vehicles, including taxis, buses and vans. The percentage of electric vehicles is even lower for taxis. From December 2024, Hong Kong only had 90 electric taxis, which made 0.5% of the city’s 18,163 licensed taxis. This is a strong contrast to the 24% penetration rate in the city’s private car fleet.
Hong Kong is representative of a global phenomenon: of the more than 400 million commercial vehicles worldwide are less than 1% electrical. Even in cities with high EV penetration rates – including San Francisco, Oslo and Amsterdam – electrical taxis remain a rarity.
In theory, the taxi owners in Hong Kong have strong financial incentives to make the change. Electromotors with less movable parts than inner engines are cheaper to run and wait. Several recent studies indicate that the fuel costs for electric vehicles are more than 70% lower than for gas -powered vehicles, which leads to annual savings of around USD 10,000 per taxi. The Hong Kong government offers further incentives: it dispensed with first taxes for electrical taxis and granted a $ 45,000 in Hong Kong dollar (approx. $ 5,750) subsidy per vehicle that switch from gas to electrics.
Nevertheless, owners and drivers are careful. For commercial vehicles, especially taxis, every minute of downtime means lost income. The conventional EV charging is far too slow for high delicacy fleets. Hong Kong has more than 11,000 public EV chargers, but only about 2,000 are fast or fast chargers that can restore batteries in 30 to 60 minutes to 80%. The rest can take several hours to fully charge a vehicle – the time that most drivers do not have.
With the kind permission of u power
As LI emphasizes, the average taxi driver earns 200 Hong Kong dollar (approx. 25 US dollars) per hour: “You ask you to sit in idle for two hours? In no case. That has disappeared $ 400 (Hong Kong).” In addition, many public charging stations collect hourly parking fees that further undermine the economic case for electric vehicles.
Battery exchange stations could eliminate this downtime -but only if U -Strom can build enough of them in the city and persuade the drivers to use the model. The company hopes to have four stations in Hong Kong by the end of this year and ultimately imagine an urban network of more than 200.
Beyond Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a top -class test bed, but Li has global ambitions. U Power launched pilots in Singapore and Macau and actively uses exchange stations in Thailand, Mexico, Portugal and Peru. Li sees Thailand and Mexico as particularly promising due to their large taxi fleets and their sales with a high vehicle. Bangkok, he states, has 80,000 taxis; Mexico city has more than 100,000.
In Thailand, U Power signed a strategic partnership with Saic Motor CP Co., a joint venture between one of the largest car manufacturers China and the CP group, Thailand’s largest conglomerate. The company aims to integrate battery twapping technology into MG taxis and vehicles. (Disclosure: AssetsThe owner, Chatchaval Jiaravanon, is a family member who controls the CP group, and he is one of the greatest investors from U Power.)
U Power has also formed a joint venture with Susco, a Thai oil and fuel dealer, to install kiosks in his network of 200 petrol stations, and teamed up with the Japanese Sumitomo Mitsui Auto Leasing & Service to use a fleet of exchange mgs in the island province of Phuket.
And the company now says that it is planning to move its operational headquarters from Shanghai to Bangkok to fuel its global expansion.
In Mexico, the company has teamed up with the Fleet operator Viceon New Energy to develop swap-compatible EV taxis, buses and trucks and install pilot swap stations in three large cities. Similar efforts are made in Lisbon and Lima, where U -Strom aims at medium -sized fleet operators and delivery platforms.
In particular, U Power has no plans to enter the two largest markets in the world: the USA and China. The United States calls the United States an EV melting, which is hindered by low urban density, fragmented infrastructure and an unpredictable regulatory landscape for Chinese technology companies. He has also excluded the Chinese mainland due to a violent competition, the polluted EV assistant owner and such an advanced power grid that the ultra-fast load is widespread-what is largely unnecessary to change battery.
China’s largest cities are remarkable exceptions to the global dominance of gas -powered taxis. Electric vehicles make up more than 95% of the taxi fleet in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In Shenzhen, the extensive metropolis directly opposite the Hong Kong border, the authorities have already prescribed the conversion of the entire taxi and bus fleets of the city to electric vehicles in 2018.
A wild trip on the Nasdaq
The plans of U Power for global expansion triggered one of the most explosive post-IPO classes in the history of Nasdaq. When the company made their debut in April 2023, the shares on the opening day rose by over 600% and triggered several trade trailers. Retail dealers were stacked, which were attracted by the promise of a disruptive Chinese EV infrastructure game. The stock, which is traded under the nickname Ucar, reached a highlight of $ 901 in June before speculative passion collapsed. By the end of the year, the stocks had dropped to $ 18. In the past 52 weeks, the stock price of U Power has swung between $ 9.05 and $ 2.47, with the daily fluctuations often exceeding 10%. The share is currently less than $ 4.00 and drops by more than 50%. Ucar is currently not followed by a large Wall Street analyst.
The slump in the U Power share reflects the skepticism of the investors about the feasibility of his “Batterie-As-a-Service” model and frustration with its lackluster financial data. Critics are wondering whether a battery -swap network – capital -intensive, depending on the introduction of fleets and distributed over so many different markets – can scale profitably. The company introduced in 2013 is still unprofitable and, according to documents, who were submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, organizes $ 7.7 million for USD 6.08 million in 2024.
LI insists that the company will break out in 2025 and in 2026 triple profits thanks to the expansion of fleet contracts and the growing subscription income in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Owner and driver, hearts and mind
In order to recognize Li’s great visions, U -Power must secure hundreds of viable exchange offices in some of the crowded cities in the world. This is a particularly discouraging offer in Hong Kong, where country is expensive and for each location zoning permits, network connectivity and access to the vehicle are required for the vehicle. So far, U Power has identified only ten potential locations in the city.
The greater challenge can be cultural. Winning Hong Kongs 17 large taxi fleet owners and around 46,000 violent independent drivers means that the deep-seated habits and suspicion are redesigned. The model of U Power requires operators that the operators give up the owner of the battery, retrofit vehicles with the company’s proprietary Uotta interface and monthly subscription fees for batteries – Temms, who may not simply sit against centralized control with a long allergic sector.
Li insists that the economy will win. By decoupling batteries from vehicles, taxi owners can reduce costs by up to 40%in advance. U Power takes responsibility for loading logistics, monitoring the battery and recycling at the end of life. If the batteries worsen, they will be recycled in less demanding uses – such as inpatient energy stores.
In order to sweeten the deal, Li has recorded a blockchain-based incentive system. Each battery contains a chip that logs the use, loading behavior and wear. Drivers that follow the optimal patterns of the pattern-hour swaps, the return of batteries in good condition-deserve digital tokens for energy discounts or services. The goal: a transparent, self -regulating marketplace that reduces the network and at the same time rewarded intelligent use.
Isaac Lawrence – AFP via Getty Images
It remains to be seen whether Hong Kongs will notorically shop. The legendary red, green and blue taxis of the city – the one for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, green for the new areas and blue for Lantau – are immediately recognizable symbols of the city. As is well known, they are idiosyncratic. Most drivers still accept cash and have long attracted complaints about rude service, overloading and ruthless driving. The reform efforts have repeatedly hit walls: a proposed increase in a fee in 1984 triggered urban unrest; Drivers staged mass attacks in 1991 and 2008; And it was only in February that the driver union threatened another, unless the government did not licensed travel services such as Uber.
At the Hong Kong launch of U Power in June, the chairman of the Hong Kong Taxi Drivers & Operators Association assumed a memorandum of understanding to promote the acceptance of the Uotta system. In particular, however, no representatives of the Hong Kong Taxi Owner’s Association, which represents the interests of the Taxi license holders – have regarded the event the event.
Nevertheless, the symbolism of the taxis in Hong Kong is effective. When the city’s stock exchange opened in New York and London offices in 2023, she marked the milestone with a cheeky global advertising campaign with the then CEO Nicolas Aguzin Roll through Manhattan and Mayfair – not in a black sedan, but in the back of a classic Red Hong Kong -Taxi. If Li Jia has its way, the next time one of these taxis makes an international Cameo appearance, with interchangeable power – will not only a symbol of the city, but also the future of electromobility.
