"Yuma Energy to Expand to Over 300 Battery Swapping Stations by Year-End"

Yuma Energy, a leading battery-swapping company, is set to expand its network to over 300 stations by the end of the year, significantly boosting its capacity to over 100,000 swaps per day, according to Muthu Subramanian, MD and General Manager of Yuma Energy.

“Yuma currently operates more than 150 battery swapping stations nationwide, with a capacity of 50,000 swaps per day. We aim to expand our footprint to 300+ stations by the year-end,” Subramanian told Businessline.

Yuma Energy, a joint venture between Magna and Yulu Bikes, provides battery swapping services across eight Indian cities. “Swapping is a much more affordable, practical, and quicker option for energy than charging. Every month, over 100,000 users get their vehicle batteries swapped at our stations,” Subramanian added.

Yuma stations are strategically located in high-demand areas and equipped with AI-powered charging units. The battery-as-a-service business model is open to other EV players as well.

The company follows a phased expansion roadmap. In phase one, Yuma focuses on tier-1 and tier-2 cities with high demand for its services. “In the second phase, Yuma will expand into other cities and towns, continually adding more original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and fleet customers to our network,” Subramanian noted.

Yuma owns and maintains the EV batteries, offering them to users at a one-time swap cost or on a monthly subscription basis. The joint venture combines hardware, software, and operational excellence, featuring IoT-enabled charging units, smart batteries, an AI-enabled technology stack, and a 99% battery availability rate at its swapping stations.

These features, along with Yuma’s intelligent network of customer touchpoints, ensure a one-minute service time, as well as high uptime and reliability for users. Yuma uses travel heat maps, retailer locations, and ride patterns to identify demand hubs and establish swapping stations accordingly.

“This approach allows us to optimize our operations while delivering an accessible network for our users, enabling us to do more with less,” Subramanian concluded.

HBL