In December 2024, CATL, a leading Chinese battery manufacturer, made headlines by announcing its partnership with automakers to develop ten new electric vehicle models featuring swappable batteries. The company believes that this trend could replace one-third of gas stations in China.
According to Yang Jun, CEO of CATL’s battery-swapping brand EVOGO, the company will introduce the first electric vehicle using its dubbed “choco-swap” battery, with the other models to follow in the coming months.
He added that CATL plans to build 1,000 battery-swapping stations in 2025 and will work with partners to build more stations in order to expedite this goal.
The chairman of CATL, Robin Zeng, told Reuters in November this year that the biggest battery manufacturer in the world has also been looking to grow into new markets like skateboard chassis and micro power grids.
In 2022, it introduced the EVOGO battery swap service, which it claimed would enable drivers to swap out EV batteries in just one minute.
State-owned Changan Auto and FAW are among its automaker partners, and it has so far constructed a limited number of charging stations in a few Chinese cities as a test project.
Yang mentioned the choco-swap battery swapping service at a battery swap event in Xiamen, a city in southern China, that the subscription fee starts at 369 yuan (USD 51) per month.
Zeng announced at the same event that two standard battery sizes would be available to hasten adoption.
“It is hoped that the choco-swap battery swapping stations will use as much green energy as possible and help stabilise the power grid,” Zeng continued.
According to Yang, a third of China’s approximately 100,000 gas stations may eventually be replaced by 30,000–40,000 battery-swapping stations. According to Zeng, by 2030, battery swapping and public and home chargers will account for one-third of EV power-up solutions.
Nio, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, has also been making significant investments in battery swapping stations and technologies that enable EV users to swap out their depleted batteries for fully charged ones in three minutes. By the beginning of December 2024, Nio had constructed over 2,800 of these stations, mostly in China.
Early Life And Career of Zeng Yuqun
In 1968, Zeng Yuqun was born in China’s Fujian Province. He completed a degree in physics from Fujian Normal University. His work in battery technology and his future business ventures were well-founded by his academic background.
Zeng Yuqun had a wealth of experience in the battery and electronics industries before starting CATL. His first job was in battery and power storage system research and development. He developed his abilities in battery development, production, and management during his early career working for several technology companies.
CATL was established in Ningde, China, in 2011 by Zeng Yuqun. At first, the business concentrated on creating high-performance lithium-ion batteries for electric cars.
In the fiercely competitive global market, CATL expanded quickly thanks to its cutting-edge technologies and capacity to establish strategic alliances with leading automakers. CATL’s ascent to prominence in the energy storage and electric vehicle battery sectors worldwide can be attributed in large part to Zeng’s leadership.
CATL has partnered with companies such as Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen, and BYD, and has grown to become one of the world’s largest suppliers of lithium-ion batteries.
In addition to his work at CATL, Zeng Yuqun has been instrumental in advancing China’s electric vehicle ecosystem and assisting national and international initiatives to switch to more environmentally friendly energy sources.
Zeng is considered to be among the most significant businesspeople in China’s clean energy industry. He has led CATL to make major advancements in battery technology, such as the creation of solid-state batteries and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which provide electric vehicles with greater safety and efficiency. Due in large part to Zeng Yuqun, CATL has expanded internationally, opening offices in several nations, including the United States, Germany, and other important markets.
For the mass-market adoption of electric vehicles, he has played a key role in supporting CATL’s research and development activities, especially in the areas of energy density, battery life, and cost reduction.
Safety: CATL’s New Focus Point
CATL has launched a new electric vehicle chassis that it says can withstand a 120-kph frontal impact without catching fire or exploding, as it touts safety as a key selling point. The company aims to sell the new EV platform, called “panshi” in Chinese, which translates to “bedrock,” to premium car makers seeking to accelerate development and lower costs.
Such EV platforms are also known in the automobile industry as “skateboard chassis”, flexible platforms that combine electric motors, batteries, controls and suspensions. CATL will face competition from industry players like Xpeng and Shanghai-based engineering firm Launch Design.
The chassis is crucial to Robin Zeng’s ambitions to push the Chinese battery giant to achieve further growth, especially in industry verticals like electric vehicle chasis manufacturing.
Zeng disclosed the panshi project to Reuters in November, saying it could slash the cost of developing a new electric vehicle from billions of dollars to just USD 10 million and could make a niche EV firm profitable by selling just 10,000 cars a year.
The development, in turn, could open the industry to new EV players in economies without established automakers. CATL had already shown the panshi technology to Porsche for a potential luxury EV and to investors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) eager to start a local EV brand.
December 2024 was a productive month for the Chinese battery giant, as it agreed with Stellantis to invest up to 4.1 billion euro to form a joint venture that will build a large-scale European lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in Zaragoza, Spain. Designed to be completely carbon neutral, the battery plant will be implemented in several phases and investment plans.
Targeted to start production by the end of 2026 at Stellantis’ Zaragoza production site, the facility is touted to reach up to 50 GWh capacity, subject to the evolution of the electrical market in Europe and continued support from authorities in Spain and the European Union.
The joint venture will boost Stellantis’ best-in-class LFP offer in Europe enabling the automaker to offer more high-quality, durable and affordable battery-electric passenger cars, crossovers and SUVs in the B and C segments with intermediate ranges.
CATL is bringing state-of-the-art battery manufacturing technology to Europe through its two plants in Germany and Hungary. The Spanish facility will enhance its capabilities to support customers’ climate goals, further underscoring its commitment to advancing e-mobility and energy transition efforts in Europe and the global market.
Stellantis is employing a dual-chemistry approach – lithium-ion nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) – to serve all customers and explore innovative battery cell and pack technologies. The Italian-American automotive giant is on track to becoming a carbon net zero corporation by 2038, all scopes included, with single-digit percentage compensation of remaining emissions.
Image Credits: World Economic Forum