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Battery giant, CATL, has announced its intention to establish a battery swapping network throughout China, eventually aiming to reach 10,000 stations. In the short term, the company is aiming to establish 500 stations across 30 cities by the end of 2025. This announcement comes as CATL is making decisive moves into the charging sector in China and follows the launch of the company’s battery swap service brand, EVOGO, in 2022.
10,000 battery swapping stations
Starting next year with 500 stations, by 2026 CATL aims to have over 1,500 swapping stations in 70 cities, increasing to 3,000 by 2027. Then in the longer term it is aiming for10,000 swapping stations but has not yet specified a date for this.
CATL’s battery swapping announcements to date
In 2022, CATL launched its swapping service brand, EVOGO, to provide a swapping solution and stated that it wanted to “offer the service to all OEMs”. As of now, the company is focused on R&D partnerships and has relationships with GAC Aion and BAIC. In Q1 2023, EVOGO unveiled its Choco-SEB (swapping electric block) battery blocks. With an energy density of over 160Wh/kg, the system is adaptable so vehicles can use multiple blocks to adjust to different distance needs.
In August 2023, CATL introduced the world’s first heavy-duty truck chassis battery-swapping solution, branded as the Qiji Battery Swap. The solution was launched on the country’s first national heavy-duty truck battery-swapping route from Ningde to Xiamen, aligning with China’s roadmap to decarbonise commercial vehicles.
Earlier this year, CATL established a battery-swap joint venture with China’s biggest car-hailing company, Didi, to enter the online taxi-hailing market.
CATL moving to the charging space
CATL’s expansion into battery swapping comes as part of a broader trend of it entering into the charging sector. In April 2024, it unveiled its plans to establish to build 10,000 super-fast charging stations in 100 Chinese cities by the end of 2025. To do so CATL unveiled a strategic partnership with Star Charge, the second-largest charge point operator in China.
Rho Motion’s Evaluation, CATL’s integration within the energy transition
CATL is already the world’s largest battery manufacturer serving clients all over the world. The company serves over 90 vehicle OEMs as well as many other companies in the consumer electronic and ESS industries. To integrate itself further especially within the EV industry it is a logical step to focus on charging and battery swapping. Currently, only NIO operates a battery swapping network with approximately 2,500 stations, predominately in China.
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