Chinese electric vehicle startup Aiways established Aiways Technology (Shanghai) Co on Thursday with a registered capital of RMB 1.5 billion ($233 million), data provider Qichacha's information showed.

The company is wholly owned by Aiways Hong Kong Holdings Limited, whose business scope includes the wholesale of new energy vehicle production and testing equipment, auto parts and accessories, charging piles, artificial intelligence hardware and new energy prime movers.

Aiways currently offers models including the U5, U6 and U7 ion, with the U6 featuring a high energy density CTP battery with a range of 650km and an intelligent driver assistance system that enables assisted narrow road access.

(Source: Aiways)

Aiways announced on Friday the launch of its first battery swap station and Aiways U5 battery swap-enabled model.

Up to now, Aiways has received orders for 600 battery swap-enabled Aiways U5 variant, with the first vehicles going into the sharing market, the company said.

The vehicles are available with 53kWh - 72kWh batteries, starting at a maximum power of 150kW and priced from RMB 166,900 to 249,900.

It's worth noting that Aiways' battery swap station is currently only for the cab market, and the company has no plans to open it up to the general public.

Aiways said its business model was to sell battery swap-enabled models to corporate customers for the cab market, and charging-only models to individual consumers.

Chinese EV startup Aiways starts trial operation of its first swap station for cab market