Recently, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) has made intensive strategic moves within half a month, establishing three new companies: Time Qiji New Energy Technology (Qinhuangdao), (Yingtan), and (Jiangmen). Each of these enterprises has a registered capital of 5 million yuan, with business scope covering emerging energy technology research and development, battery sales, battery swapping facility sales, and centralized charging stations.

While appearing to be routine business expansion, this strategic deployment reflects CATL's deep cultivation in the commercial vehicle battery swapping sector. All three new companies belong to Time Qiji, which serves as the core platform for advancing heavy-duty truck battery swapping business. As a global battery giant, CATL is steadily implementing its heavy-duty truck battery swapping strategy through this platform, with deployment logic spanning technical breakthroughs, network establishment, ecosystem transformation, and cross-domain collaboration.

**Technical Breakthroughs: From Solution Launch to Standard Upgrades**

In June 2023, CATL officially launched its self-developed one-stop heavy-duty truck chassis battery swapping solution - Qiji battery swapping. This initiative aims to address industry pain points such as low battery swapping efficiency and compatibility challenges through dual innovation in technology and business models, promoting the transformation of the heavy-duty truck industry toward green and efficient operations.

This solution comprises a complete system consisting of Qiji battery blocks, Qiji swapping stations, and the Qiji cloud platform, forming a closed-loop service through collaborative operations. The Qiji battery block serves as the technical core, utilizing third-generation lithium iron phosphate batteries with thermal runaway prevention technology and CTP assembly technology, achieving battery system lifespan exceeding 15,000 cycles while ensuring both safety and durability.

In May this year, CATL further upgraded its technical deployment by releasing the 75# standardized battery block and comprehensive chassis battery swapping solutions, setting the goal of "building an 'Eight Horizontal and Ten Vertical' battery swapping green network covering 80% of national trunk transport capacity by 2030."

The 75# battery block achieves dual performance breakthroughs: single vehicle battery swapping time within 5 minutes, significantly improving heavy-duty truck operational efficiency; and strong compatibility, meeting the interchangeable requirements of different vehicle bodies and wheelbases, breaking the vehicle compatibility barriers that have long constrained battery swapping promotion.

Compared to traditional rear-mounted battery swapping, chassis-based swapping offers significant advantages: higher space utilization efficiency without occupying cargo or cab rear space; enhanced safety with lower chassis impact probability and tight battery-chassis integration; and more stable swapping processes through precise chassis-station docking with minimal impact from parking angles or vehicle movement.

Policy support has further strengthened the chassis battery swapping approach. Relevant notices specify the formulation of local standards for chassis-type heavy-duty truck battery swapping system interchangeability requirements and swapping station design specifications by December 31, 2026. The "Pure Electric Chassis-Type Battery Swapping Truck Swapping Station Construction Guidelines" issued by Shanxi Provincial Market Supervision Bureau represents the nation's first provincial standard focusing on chassis-type swapping station construction, jointly formulated by CATL and Shanxi Transportation Development Investment Group, officially implemented on July 10, 2025.

**Network Deployment: From Pilot to Scale, Validating Scenario Viability**

Technical breakthroughs lay the foundation for implementation, while network construction is the key step in converting technical advantages into practical value, with deployment results quickly materializing.

On September 4, CATL's Qiji battery swapping business officially completed 100 swapping stations, marking the transition from pilot phase to scale deployment. These stations are strategically positioned to focus precisely on three high-frequency heavy-duty truck operational scenarios: mining, logistics highways, and ports.

Through standardized battery blocks and cloud management platforms, CATL converts the technical advantage of "5-minute rapid battery swapping" into actual operational benefits. In port scenarios, heavy-duty trucks no longer need extended charging wait times and can achieve "swap and go" operations, increasing daily operational hours by 2-3 hours, further validating the feasibility of chassis battery swapping solutions in core scenarios.

CATL founder, chairman, and CEO Zeng Yuqun has high expectations for the battery swapping business, noting that battery swapping represents disruptive business model innovation that will deliver dimensional reduction attacks on the industry's current competitive situation. This judgment is based on the transactional breakthrough of "vehicle-battery separation" achieved by the battery swapping model: in traditional models, battery costs are directly included in vehicle prices, requiring users to bear high upfront costs and face battery degradation risks; under the battery swapping model, users only rent batteries, reducing vehicle purchase costs by over 30% and significantly lowering the barrier to heavy-duty truck electrification.

Zeng Yuqun has also predicted that "based on market demand, by 2030, battery swapping, home charging piles, and public charging piles will divide the market into three equal parts."

**Ecosystem Transformation: Multi-dimensional Efforts Building Win-Win Industry Structure**

The battery swapping model's ecosystem transformation involves not single-dimensional change but multi-party win-win structure construction through industrial chain collaboration, battery value extraction, enterprise competitiveness upgrading, and cross-domain resource coordination.

From an industrial chain collaboration perspective, battery swapping promotes industry transition from "individual combat" to ecological cooperation. Previously, vehicle manufacturers, battery companies, and other segments had inconsistent standards and serious resource internal consumption. The battery swapping model forces battery standardization, with CATL's battery blocks currently compatible with 16 vehicle manufacturers, jointly launching over 30 chassis battery swapping vehicle models with more than ten manufacturers, covering 64 and 42 tractors and cargo vehicles.

More critically, battery swapping network construction requires multi-party collaboration. For example, CATL reached strategic cooperation with Sinopec at the end of March, planning to upgrade 500 gas stations to comprehensive energy stations within 2025, with future targets reaching 10,000 stations. Leveraging Sinopec's offline network advantages to rapidly fill battery swapping network gaps, the "vehicle-battery-station" ecosystem construction transforms industrial chain segments from pure competition to deep win-win cooperation.

Regarding battery value extraction, the battery swapping model significantly enhances battery full lifecycle value. Through unified battery management systems, CATL achieves refined operations: healthy batteries are used for vehicle propulsion, degraded batteries transition to energy storage, and finally enter recycling for raw material extraction. This closed loop increases battery value by over 40%. In the heavy-duty truck sector, the Qiji battery swapping solution makes batteries "mobile energy carriers" - the same battery block can circulate among different heavy-duty trucks, avoiding battery waste from single vehicle idling and further releasing usage value.

For enterprise competitiveness, the battery swapping model has reshaped evaluation standards. Enterprises no longer compete solely on manufacturing capabilities but on comprehensive strengths including standard-setting authority and network coverage capacity. CATL has clearly gained first-mover advantages: beyond participating in Shanxi local standard formulation, it also partnered with the Ministry of Transport Highway Research Institute on April 3 to promote battery swapping industry standard construction. The planned "Eight Horizontal and Ten Vertical" battery swapping network further materializes these comprehensive advantages by covering national trunk transport corridors and constructing insurmountable industry barriers.

**Cross-Domain Coordination: Addressing User Concerns, Completing Model Closed Loop**

To ensure the heavy-duty truck battery swapping model truly forms a closed loop, CATL has proactively "orchestrated partnerships" by coordinating resources from finance, insurance, and other sectors to address users' full-cycle concerns.

In finance, CATL has partnered with financial companies to launch heavy-duty truck body financing programs with rates as low as 3.5%, terms of 4-8 years, and minimum down payments of 5%, significantly alleviating user vehicle purchase funding pressure. In insurance, partnerships with PICC and Ping An have launched exclusive vehicle insurance with annual premiums as low as 25,000 yuan per vehicle (approximately 15% lower than traditional vehicle insurance), plus special 75# battery standalone insurance (9 yuan per kWh annually), with current network users receiving complimentary first-year battery insurance, further reducing user operational costs.

Simultaneously, CATL has proactively assumed "heavy responsibilities" in ecosystem construction: bearing battery assets itself, independently investing in first-batch swapping station construction, and even assisting vehicle manufacturers in customer outreach. On May 18, eight brands of chassis battery swapping vehicles delivered 1,478 vehicles to 19 customers while signing orders for 6,900 vehicles, with most customers connected through CATL. CATL focuses on battery leasing and swapping operations while vehicle sales belong to manufacturers, creating clear division of labor that enables win-win outcomes for all industrial chain participants.

From technical research and development to standard formulation, from network construction to ecosystem collaboration, CATL has systematically built a green ecosystem network for commercial vehicle battery swapping centered on Qiji battery swapping. As Zeng Yuqun stated, the battery swapping model breaks away from price war constraints and fundamentally reshapes the value creation logic of the lithium battery industry. In the future, with the advancement of the "Eight Horizontal and Ten Vertical" battery swapping green network, CATL may further lead the heavy-duty truck electrification wave and promote large-scale adoption of green transportation.