Ning Wang partners with DiDi to further expand battery swapping

Author | Wang Xiaojun

Editor | Chai Xuchen

The territory of "Ning Wang" is still expanding, this time in the public battery swapping field.

On February 18, CATL and DiDi jointly invested in the battery swapping joint venture "Times Xiaoju," which officially launched in Xiamen, with a registered capital of 330 million yuan, CATL holding 69.7% and DiDi holding 30.3%.

This cooperation is not only an extension of the business for two industry giants but also a revolutionary reconstruction of the energy supplement system for new energy vehicles, especially in the public transportation market.

Speaking of battery swapping, Nio is an unavoidable industry veteran. Since 2018, it has laid out over 3,000 battery swapping stations and launched the "Charging County Connectivity" plan last August, which aims to establish battery swapping stations in every county across the country.

However, due to the continuous improvement in battery energy replenishment efficiency and Nio's significant investment in the battery swapping field, the industry has long been skeptical about whether battery swapping is a good business.

Starting from the end of 2023, a number of car manufacturers, including leading players like Changan, Geely, and Chery, have joined Nio's battery swapping landscape, and battery swapping seems to be reactivated. CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun has also stated that by 2030, battery swapping, home charging, and public charging piles will "divide the world into three parts."

Especially in public transportation such as taxis and ride-hailing services, battery swapping has been viewed more favorably due to its efficiency advantages.

As a core scenario of public transportation, ride-hailing has a massive user base—taking DiDi's platform as an example, its user scale exceeds 500 million; and for ride-hailing, the frequency of energy replenishment is high (3-5 times per day), while traditional charging modes suffer from low efficiency and long time (over 30 minutes), whereas battery swapping can compress the replenishment time to 1-2 minutes, significantly improving drivers' order acceptance efficiency.

One of the reasons battery swapping has long struggled to become as widespread as refueling is the lack of unified battery standards.

As a leading company in the battery field, CATL not only improves the energy replenishment efficiency of batteries from the source but has also been laying out the battery swapping field for a long time, with the most well-known being the mass-produced battery "Chocolate Battery Swapping Block" developed specifically for shared battery swapping.

Currently, CATL's battery swapping service brand Chocolate Battery Swapping is operating in multiple locations, including Xiamen, Fuzhou, Hefei, and Guiyang, providing users with a "chocolate-style" combined battery swapping overall solution. Just today, the first station of Chocolate Battery Swapping in Chengdu officially started, aiming to achieve basic network construction by mid-year, realizing a 15-minute station search, and completing experience network construction by the end of the year, allowing for a 10-minute station search.

Moreover, its "Chocolate Battery Swapping Block" technology (supporting modular batteries with a range of 400-600 kilometers) has advantages of standardization and high compatibility, suitable for multiple brand models. Based on this battery standard, CATL has already collaborated with mainstream car manufacturers such as Changan, GAC, and FAW to launch 10 models compatible with its battery swapping technology, gradually promoting industry standardization These collaborations not only strengthen the binding relationship with automakers but also create inherent advantages for CATL to enter the public battery swapping field.

For CATL, the battery swapping model allows for deep binding with automaker clients, enhancing its control over the battery supply chain. Once automakers adopt its standardized batteries, subsequent maintenance, upgrades, and recycling processes will heavily rely on CATL, forming a "technology lock-in" effect.

Moreover, in the battery swapping models that CATL collaborates on with various automakers, financial institutions are also introduced to provide battery leasing services (monthly rent of 369-599 yuan), which further lowers the purchase threshold for users, especially for ride-hailing users. The joint venture with DiDi further connects the ride-hailing scenario, forming a closed loop of "vehicle-station-user."

The collaboration with DiDi will also accelerate the construction of the battery swapping network, creating economies of scale.

Currently, in the construction of battery swapping stations, CATL is accelerating its layout through a "self-built + cooperation" model. CATL plans to jointly build 30,000 battery swapping stations with ecological partners in the future, including 1,000 self-built stations by 2025 and reaching 3,000 by 2027, covering 70 cities.

Additionally, DiDi's Xiaoju Charging has covered over 230 cities nationwide, with a cumulative charging volume exceeding 21.8 billion kWh. The joint venture can leverage its existing network to rapidly deploy battery swapping stations, creating economies of scale. Scalable operations can dilute the cost per station and enhance profitability. It is estimated that the cost of a single battery swapping station is about 3 million yuan, requiring an average daily service of 200 vehicles to achieve breakeven. DiDi's traffic 导入能力 will help CATL quickly improve station utilization rates.

Through standardized battery swapping technology, large-scale network construction, and ecological collaboration, CATL is expected to capture over 30% of the battery swapping market share between 2025 and 2030.

With the cooperation with DiDi, CATL's battery swapping is expected to expand into more public transportation fields in the future. Despite facing challenges such as inconsistent standards and heavy asset investment, its open ecological strategy will provide it with a long-term competitive advantage. In the future, the battery swapping model may become a key driver for the popularization of electric vehicles, reshaping the energy supply and transportation service ecosystem