CATL Unveils China's First Standardized Battery Swap Ecosystem for Light Trucks

CATL has joined forces with logistics operator DST (Digital Sustainable Transport Shenzhen) to officially roll out China’s first standardized battery-swap ecosystem for light trucks.

The initial fleet of standardized swap-enabled light trucks has been delivered and entered urban logistics service, the Chinese power battery leader said in a statement on Monday.

Under the battery-swap model, branded Choco-swap, the entire energy replenishment takes just 120 seconds. Over an eight-year vehicle lifecycle, it can eliminate more than 2,000 hours of refueling time, while energy replenishment costs are roughly half those of a diesel light truck, according to CATL.

The modular swap stations accommodate both passenger vehicles and trucks with wheelbases ranging from 2.7 to 3.75 meters. They are compatible with CATL’s 25# and 35# battery packs, enabling battery interoperability between passenger and commercial vehicles, the statement noted.

To date, 31 light truck battery-swap stations have been built across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. CATL said the number of its swap stations in the region will rise to 140 by the end of this year, with a focus on covering key expressway corridors and logistics distribution nodes.

CATL, its subsidiary Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology (CAES), and DST will jointly deploy 5,000 standardized battery-swap light trucks in the Greater Bay Area by the end of 2026. The initiative is set to become the country’s largest standardized urban distribution battery-swap operation cluster and is planned for nationwide expansion, CATL highlighted.

The latest move is part of CATL’s long-term push to scale up its battery-swap business. The company aims to build a cumulative total of more than 3,000 passenger car and light truck swap stations by 2026, with an ultimate goal of 30,000 stations.

In the heavy-duty truck segment, CATL entered a trunk-line logistics electrification partnership with STO Express last month to accelerate fleet electrification. Using the 400-kilometer Shanghai-Ningbo route as an example, the electric heavy trucks delivered energy savings of 0.8 yuan ($0.12) per kilometer compared with conventional fuel vehicles, the company stated on April 3.

CATL’s Qiji Energy unit plans to build a cumulative total of 900 heavy-duty truck battery-swap stations by 2026. Additionally, the company signed an agreement with Guangzhou Public Transport Group last month to plan a battery-swap network for taxis.