Note: This article was written by Lee Nian Tjoe and first appeared in The Straits Times on 1 August 2025.
Instead of spending hours plugged to a charger to fill up its batteries, an electric prime mover truck will need only five minutes to hit the road again after swopping out its depleted battery for a fully charged one at a station in Tuas.
Located at 5 Tuas Avenue 5, the battery charge and swop station is the first of its kind that is open to the public for electric heavy commercial vehicles.
It was launched on Aug 1 by EcoSwift, an electric commercial vehicle distributor, under a four-year permit given by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to test the technology.
The process of exchanging the battery is entirely automated. When the vehicle is stopped in the correct position, a mechanical arm removes the battery, which is mounted vertically behind the truck’s cabin. After placing the depleted battery into the charging slot in the station, the arm will insert a fully charged one into the truck.
A fully charged battery, which will enable the electric prime mover to travel up to 240km, costs $168 in electricity.
The cost of battery swopping is based on the amount of electricity that the vehicle takes from the station. If the prime mover pulls up at the station with a 20 per cent charge remaining to exchange for a fully charged battery, the client will be billed for the 80 per cent worth of electricity, or $134.40.
Conventional engine-powered prime movers can travel up to 500km on a full tank of diesel, which can cost between $300 and $500 to fill.
The EcoSwift station is one of two battery charge and swop trials for electric heavy vehicles in Singapore. The other trial is by PSA Corp, which has a station within the Pasir Panjang port terminal.
LTA issued the permit for both trials in mid-2024 to understand the technical and operational requirement for the technology and to consider incorporating it into upcoming reviews of the national charging standards.
The battery charge and swop station was jointly developed by EcoSwift and Chinese vehicle manufacturer Sany. For now, only the Sany EV490 prime mover can use the swopping station, although EcoSwift is working to adapt the technology for electric vehicles (EVs) from other brands as well.
The battery charge and swop station in Tuas has a footprint of 1,500 sq ft, which is roughly the size of two three-room Housing Board flats. It is able to do one battery swop at a time.
Half of the space is used to store and charge up to three EV batteries, while the other half is a sheltered bay for battery swopping.
It takes up to 1½ hours for the station to charge up a battery. The station can store up to three batteries, so it can perform up to 60 battery swops in 24 hours.
Using conventional high-speed chargers to serve the same number of electric trucks in the same amount of time will require more land than the EcoSwift station.
Mr Ryan Woon, EcoSwift’s founder and chief executive, said that the roll-out of the battery charge and swop station will enable logistics operators in Singapore to make the switch to EVs without sacrificing time, efficiency or space.
Among the companies to sign up with EcoSwift are logistics company YCH Group and retailer FairPrice Group. As part of the battery charge and swop trial, these companies lease electric prime movers from EcoSwift for a year before buying over the vehicle.
The companies had collected the electric prime movers earlier in 2025, relying on conventional charging that takes up to four hours each time. They can now use the battery charge and swop service.
Mr Hayden Lin, head of group procurement at YCH Group, said that the company has been using the charger at its office in Bulim Avenue in the Jurong area.
He said: “Being able to swop out a battery in five minutes will definitely enhance our operational efficiency.”
Source: The Straits Times