CATL, the world leader in electric car batteries, has just presented its solution to democratize battery exchanges. With standardized packs and up to 30,000 exchange stations planned, the Chinese giant is thinking big.
The question of recharging often comes to the top of the concerns of newbies when it comes to electric cars, but many solutions exist. The network is growing day by day and charging times are decreasing thanks to technological advances, but some go further with battery exchange stations.
The undisputed leader in the field is the Chinese Nio, which has just celebrated its 60,000,000th battery exchange. CATL, the world leader in batteries for electric cars, already offers an equivalent system called Evogo, but has just presented a new set of dedicated batteries.
Chocolate batteries
“Choco-SEB” (for Swapping Electric Blocks): this is the nickname given to CATL for its interchangeable batteries, unveiled during a dedicated conference and relayed by CarNewsChina.
The free exceptional bank card*
Finally discover a prestigious bank card: the World Elite Mastercard from Fortuneo is designed to offer you services adapted to your lifestyle and all your desires
Two large families are planned. The first, called 20#, concerns the A0 category – understand city cars with a size comparable to that of a Renault 5 E-Tech. This category offers two battery choices, accessible by subscription:
- 42 kWh in LFP chemistry (lithium – iron – phosphate) for 369 yuan per month (approximately 48 euros) with 3000 km monthly included;
- 52 kWh in NMC (nickel – manganese – cobalt) for 469 yuan per month (around 61 euros), unlimited mileage
These batteries would allow respective ranges of 300 and 400 kilometers in real conditions.
To go further
Electric cars: here are the different battery technologies (sodium, solid, LFP, NMC, NCA, etc.) and their advantages
For larger cars, categories A and B (respectively the equivalent of a Renault Mégane and a Tesla Model 3), these interchangeable batteries come in the 25# category. Here too, two choices are offered:
- A 56 kWh LFP battery for 499 yuan per month (around 65 euros), 3000 km per month included;
- A 70 kWh NMC for 599 yuan per month (around 78 euros), unlimited mileage
Enough to give respective ranges of around 450 and 550 km. However, no mention was made of the possibility of temporarily exchanging packs (for example when going on vacation), as Nio offers.
A long-term strategy
Robin Zeng, founder and CEO of CATL, is a firm believer in battery swapping, and predicts that this solution, home charging and public charging will each represent a third of the ways to “charge” your electric car in China.
And these standardized batteries are, according to him, the best way to achieve this democratization. Ten Chinese electric cars are already planned to accommodate these “Choco-SEBs”; most are unknown and/or should never arrive in Europe, but this proves the involvement of the entire Chinese ecosystem to develop the electric car in the country – the sales records are excellent proof of this.
As for the exchange stations, here too, CATL sees the distance. From 2025, the company announces that it wants to build 1,000 stations in China, before a medium-term objective of 10,000 locations (then built by all stakeholders in the project). Ultimately, CATL is aiming for 30,000 stations, this time built directly by the Chinese state.
Nio, for its part, currently has 2,800 stations in China and 59 in Europe, a territory that CATL seems not to want (yet) to equip with its stations.
Want to join a community of enthusiasts? Our Discord welcomes you, it is a place of mutual help and passion around tech.
