CATL Partners with Chinese Ride-Hailing Company Didi to Establish Battery Swap Joint Venture

Chinese electric vehicle battery manufacturer CATL (Ningde Times) has partnered with China's largest ride-hailing company Didi to establish a joint venture for electric vehicle battery swapping.

On the 28th, China's Pengpai News reported that CATL and Didi recently officially established a battery swapping joint venture in Ningde City, Fujian Province. Pengpai News explained, "The battery swapping joint venture will combine and provide efficient battery swapping services for many new energy vehicles in the online ride-sharing field based on the technical advantages and operational capabilities of both companies."

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

CATL also stated that it has formed a strategic partnership with Didi's subsidiary Xiaoju Energy and is promoting broader cooperation in new energy fields such as integrated storage and charging. Xiaoju Energy provides solutions for carbon neutrality in the transportation and mobility sectors. Through various businesses including smart charging, virtual power plants, power trading, power ancillary services, and corporate services, it provided more than 680 million charging services in over 190 cities last year.

The Ningde local newspaper Ningde Daily evaluated, "This cooperation is an important strategic decision in the public energy supply sector," adding, "It will rapidly build large-scale battery swapping hubs and lead and improve industry services and technical standards."

Since 2022, CATL has launched the EVOGO electric vehicle battery swapping service, introducing a combined battery swapping solution that separates the vehicle and battery, and began operations in Xiamen.

The newly established joint venture is expected to grow rapidly, supported by the Chinese government's backing of the electric vehicle battery swapping industry. At the end of last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology expressed support for policies related to the electric vehicle battery swapping industry. Subsequently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, and State Taxation Administration jointly announced the "Notice on Adjusting Technical Requirements for Electric Vehicle Products for Vehicle Acquisition Tax Reduction," clarifying the target vehicle models and related technologies to strengthen support.

According to the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, as of the end of last year, there were 3,567 battery swapping hubs nationwide. This represents an 80% increase compared to the beginning of the year (2,000 hubs).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.