China’s CATL is planning a major expansion of battery swapping for electric vehicles

XIAMEN, China — The globe’s largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles said Wednesday it will get into battery swapping in China in a large way starting next year.

The concept behind battery swapping is to refuel quickly, similar to filling a conventional car with gas. Instead of waiting for the batteries to recharge, one swaps out the ancient ones with a block of fresh ones at a swap station. An EV driver pulls into a swapping station, and automated technology exchanges the low battery for a fully-charged one the station has available.

China-based CATL announced plans to open 1,000 swap stations next year in China, including in Hong Kong and Macao, with a long-term objective of 10,000 stations built with partners. If the business follows through, it could rival Nio, a 10-year-ancient Chinese electric car brand that has opened more than 2,700 stations and has plans for at least 5,000.

Nothing on that scale exists elsewhere in the globe, though Nio has about 60 swap stations in northern Europe. Such a large financing is feasible in China, where government back has transformed the globe’s largest auto trade into a heavily electric one and made the country a chief in EV technology.

“By 2030, battery swapping, home charging, and community charging stations will distribute the trade,” Robin Zeng, the CEO of CATL, predicted at a splashy showcase in southeast China’s Fujian province, where CATL is based. He appealed to corporate partners to work together to “construct more convenient, more economical and safer services for customers, promoting a brand-recent way of life.”

Battery swapping faces hurdles. It requires a standardization of the battery pack so the swap stations can handle it, and most EVs have their own configuration. An electric vehicle has to be equipped with the correct technology in order to use a battery swapping station, and not many EV models around the globe currently allow for swapping.

Conversely, an electric car can use any charging station in China because all use a ordinary plug, and quick-charging technology is reducing the period for a recharge.

Jing Yang, a Fitch Ratings director who focuses on China’s auto and renewable vigor sectors, said automakers may be concerned that adopting a standard battery pack could cede too much control of their supply chain to others.

Electric car manufacturers have many changing specifications to remain on top of and invest in as the EV trade evolves, making recent technology a challenging sell. It is challenging to get automakers to buy into less feasible infrastructure if EV adoption in a region is still relatively low.

But some may desire to test the waters to view if battery swapping can enhance sales, and doing so with CATL or Nio could reduce the expense, she said. That’s because a driver wouldn’t have to own the battery, which is currently the most expensive part of an EV.

China auto trade analyst Lei Xing believes that swapping can complement the country’s well-developed charging network. “I don’t view it becoming mainstream, but I do view it becoming a key part of that infrastructure landscape,” he said.

Michael Davidson, a renewable vigor specialist at the University of California, San Diego, believes that charging will dominate “and maybe there’ll be some battery swapping options mixed in there.”

The concept has proven easier to implement with fleet vehicles — taxis, buses and commercial trucks — that have a standard model and, in some cases, stick to set routes. CATL, which launched a tiny pilot assignment two years ago aimed at taxis, will commence its rollout with fleets and expand to person car owners later, said Zhang Kai, the deputy president of CATL’s battery swapping subsidiary.

Swapping is still faster than quick-charging. The CATL station, branded EVOGO, can transformation a battery pack in 100 seconds, said Yang Jun, the CEO of the subsidiary. period is money for taxi and truck drivers, Lei said.

Wang Wubing, a driver at China’s popular Didi ride-hailing service, said at an EVOGO station in the city of Xiamen that he swaps batteries to save period so he can pick up more customers. But it is more expensive than charging.

In the U.S., battery swapping made headlines nearly two decades ago with the enterprise Better Place, which later shut down. Now, companies such as Ample have reinvented the technology, also starting with the ride-hailing trade. Uber and Lyft drivers that own electric cars desire to spend period on the road and earning money instead of waiting even for the fastest EV expense. Ample says its swaps receive just 5 minutes.

Both CATL and Nio have announced agreements with automakers to use their swap stations. The question is whether enough automakers and drivers adopt it to raise use of the stations to a profitable level.

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Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang and researcher Yu Bing contributed.

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