"Ning Wang" proposes a blueprint for WanZhan battery swapping

Author | Zhou Zhiyu

Editor | Zhang Xiaoling

Ten years ago, constrained by inefficient battery swapping and high costs, Tesla founder Elon Musk abandoned battery swapping and focused Tesla's energy replenishment system on fast charging. Since then, the heavy asset model of battery swapping stations has deterred car manufacturers, with few investing heavily in this field except for Nio.

Challenges such as construction costs and battery specification standardization have become obstacles to the widespread adoption of battery swapping stations. CATL has decided to tackle these issues.

On December 18th, CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun made a rare appearance at a press conference to promote the Chocolate battery swapping ecosystem. He did not hide CATL's ambition to accelerate its layout in the battery swapping field, stating that by 2030, battery swapping, home charging, and public charging piles will each account for one-third of the market.

According to CATL's plan, it will build 1,000 Chocolate battery swapping stations by 2025 and will also enter the Hong Kong and Macau markets; in the medium term, it plans to collaborate with various partners to build 10,000 stations; in the longer term, through social co-construction, it aims to ultimately scale the Chocolate battery swapping stations to 30,000.

By proposing a blueprint for 10,000 battery swapping stations, CATL, as a leading power battery enterprise, intends to launch standardized battery products, expand the new infrastructure of the battery swapping network, and invite more car manufacturers, financial institutions, and other partners to join, forming a complete battery swapping ecosystem.

CATL is also well aware that this is not an easy task. Zeng Yuqun admitted that battery swapping is a capital-intensive, high-investment, and long-cycle industry, involving many stakeholders and a complex chain. This requires further promotion to advance battery swapping into the era of standardization, allowing more partners to co-build the battery swapping ecosystem.

At the press conference, Zeng Yuqun announced that, referencing the 92# and 95# gasoline at gas stations, CATL has launched two standardized Chocolate battery swapping blocks: 20# and 25#.

The two standard battery block models are suitable for A0-level and A/B-level vehicles, both equipped with lithium iron phosphate and ternary versions. Yang Jun, CEO of CATL's battery service division, introduced that the 20# battery block with the lithium iron phosphate version has a capacity of 42 kWh, corresponding to a range of 400 kilometers; the ternary version has a capacity of 52 kWh, allowing for a range of 500 kilometers; the 25# battery block with lithium iron phosphate can have a capacity of 56 kWh, with a range of 500 kilometers; the ternary version has a capacity of 70 kWh, allowing for a range of 600 kilometers.

Moreover, Zeng Yuqun promised that all new battery technologies from CATL in the future will be applied to Chocolate battery swapping models.

After solving the battery standardization issue, CATL believes this can significantly reduce the development costs of battery swapping vehicles and compress the new vehicle development cycle by more than six months.

Yang Jun emphasized that standardization will not lead to homogenization. CATL provides battery solutions, while car manufacturer partners leverage their advantages in intelligence and personalization.

The battery swapping solution launched by CATL is indeed highly efficient, with an official claim of 100 seconds for battery swapping, while on-site demonstrations showed that some models could achieve battery swapping in about 80 seconds, far exceeding the current fast charging time for battery blocks of the same size.

In terms of usage costs, CATL has also first introduced the rental prices for the "lithium iron phosphate version" battery swapping batteries to the market, with monthly rental prices ranging from 369 to 599 yuan. Users can also freely choose to upgrade their batteries, either by purchasing or repurchasing the batteries Currently, CATL has officially announced collaborations with car manufacturers such as Changan, GAC, BAIC, Wuling, and FAW, launching ten models that will be gradually released starting from the end of this year, with new models hitting the market almost every quarter thereafter.

Of course, most users selecting battery swap models are considering ride-hailing purposes, with monthly travel mileage exceeding 4,000 to 5,000 kilometers. How to innovate in vehicle products and battery subscription plans to adapt to more family-oriented scenarios and dispel users' biases when purchasing vehicles is a key issue that needs to be addressed to further promote the popularity of the battery swap model.

In addition to car manufacturers, CATL has also announced collaborations with financial institutions and insurance companies in the battery swap field to further alleviate consumers' concerns about vehicle usage and replacement. For example, insurance companies like China Pacific Insurance will provide specialized battery insurance, reducing the battery premium from 2,000 to 500 yuan; financial institutions like China Merchants Jinling Leasing will offer innovative financial products and services, transforming the current vehicle financing plan into a body financing plan, further lowering the cost of purchasing vehicles.

This will allow mainstream market consumers, who are sensitive to vehicle purchase costs, to acquire vehicles at a lower threshold. It also represents further innovation in business models beyond technological innovation. CATL has revealed that it has signed battery subscription agreements with 30 companies for a total of 107,500 battery units.

Zeng Yuqun stated that battery swapping is a composite innovation, a reconstruction of new energy products based on user demands. It is also a key to providing each consumer with a more economical, convenient, safe, and environmentally friendly travel method.

Battery swapping is also a key for CATL to unlock its brand new future.

In just 13 years, CATL has rapidly risen with the tailwind of new energy, surpassing a market value of one trillion yuan, becoming one of the few important suppliers in China's international new energy industry chain with a voice. However, it also understands that to stand firm and last long, it needs to go further in the new energy era, with continuous innovation in both technology and business models.

According to CITIC Securities, under the current investment costs, the breakeven point for a single passenger vehicle battery swap station is to serve about 60 vehicles per day.

This also means that as battery investment costs decrease and the number of battery swap models increases, the operational economics of battery swap stations will improve accordingly.

In the future, with the completion of 30,000 integrated battery swap stations, this is equivalent to having 30,000 distributed energy storage units, capable of handling a total of 33.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Coupled with the batteries installed on the serviced vehicles, a vast energy storage network will be formed. CATL can use its scheduling "brain" cloud platform to connect these energy storage units to the power grid and park photovoltaics, participating in grid interaction and responding to grid calls.

CATL can also add the label of "battery asset operator" beyond its current identity as a power battery manufacturer, and even become a "future energy operator." CATL will have more possibilities to seek its brand new future