CATL has made battery swapping a strategic priority with four moves in less than three months, according to a report by Chinese outlet D1EV. The company spent 2.556 billion yuan (about $360 million) to become the largest shareholder of Qiyuan, China's biggest heavy-truck battery-swap operator; signed an agreement with BAIC to bring more passenger models into its Chocolate swap network; and released the Tianxing II 'electric-electric range extension' solution for heavy trucks, with initial orders for 13,000 vehicles.
Why a battery maker is pushing swapping
Battery swapping, in which drivers exchange a depleted pack for a charged one at a station, turns a one-off battery sale into a recurring asset. CATL's business logic is that the battery no longer belongs to a single car: a 'battery bank' owns the packs, leases them to drivers and keeps the right to manage and recycle them. The company says this makes long-life cells more valuable and can raise a battery's whole-life value by about 40 percent.
The scale of the network is growing. CATL's Chocolate swap brand had 2,520 stations across 31 provinces and 200 cities by 29 September, up from just over 1,000 at the end of 2025. The plan is to pass 3,000 by the end of 2026 and to build 1,000 highway stations in 2027 in a grid the company calls '11 vertical, 9 horizontal'. In April, CATL added the Chocolate 26 pack, built on an 800V architecture and available first in a 75 kWh version, extending swappable models from small A0/A-segment cars to B- and C-segment cars.
The company is also pulling carmakers into one standard. The first partners in its 'super-swap sharing network' are Changan, Chery, GAC, Seres, SAIC-GM-Wuling and BAIC, with a goal of more than 100,000 shared charging and swapping facilities by the end of 2028. BAIC's Arcfox S3 Chocolate version can already complete a swap in 99 seconds, the report says.
A second growth curve with heavy costs
Heavy trucks are the more aggressive front. Qiyuan operates about 1,700 charging and swapping stations, accounts for more than 70 percent of heavy-truck swap station construction in China, and fits 731 swappable truck models from 105 manufacturers. CATL's new 'A+B' truck package leases the under-floor A-pack from the battery bank while the driver buys the B-pack for added range; the company estimates savings of about 130,000 yuan ($18,300) per truck per year on 400 km (250 miles) of daily driving compared with diesel, and 460,000 yuan ($64,800) lower total cost of ownership over three years versus a diesel truck.
CATL is also linking swapping to assisted driving. In a cooperation with Huawei-linked Yinwang and its own Times Electric Service, vehicles using the Qiankun driving-assistance system will find and enter stations automatically and complete a 99-second fully automatic swap, with the first batch of around five models planned for 2027. Outside China, CATL is setting up a European heavy-truck swap network with UK energy company Octopus Energy and has validated swapping for inland river freight.
The costs are not small. A single station shell costs more than 1 million yuan, so this year's station-building target alone needs more than 1 billion yuan (about $141 million) before batteries, land and rent. Qiyuan carried total liabilities of about 20.2 billion yuan (about $2.85 billion) and a debt-to-asset ratio above 80 percent at the end of 2025. CATL had more than 430 billion yuan (about $60.6 billion) in cash and trading financial assets at the end of September 2026, but heavy-asset businesses with decade-long payback periods demand patience.
CATL's financial reports explain why it needs a new business. Revenue in 2024 fell for the first time since its listing, to 362 billion yuan (about $51 billion); third-quarter 2026 revenue was 165.22 billion yuan (about $23.3 billion) with net profit of 21.25 billion yuan (about $3 billion). Swap also closes the recycling loop, with recovery rates of 99.6 percent for nickel, cobalt and manganese and 96.5 percent for lithium. One charging-industry veteran told Gasgoo that swapping creates a strong exclusive barrier and more predictable returns. Chairman Robin Zeng has acknowledged that swapping is capital-heavy, long-cycle and involves many stakeholders. The bet is that whoever builds the densest network and sets the standard controls the architecture of green transport.
