The world’s largest battery maker, CATL, installed over 700 battery swap stations (BSS) in 39 cities across China. Each facility allows replacing a depleted battery (Choco-SEB) with a full one in 100 seconds. The company’s goal for 2025 is to reach 1,000 stations. The long-term threshold is 30,000 sites to expand the BSS business to Europe.
CATL is the biggest EV battery maker. According to China EV DataTracker, it acquires over 40% of the domestic market. In 2022, CATL announced its entry into the battery swap business with a new brand, Evogo. However, this project wasn’t successful. So, CATL started over in December 2024 by introducing the second generation of Choco-SEB battery. On October 21, CATL shared that it had reached an important milestone in the swap station network development.
CATL installed 700 battery swap stations in China
CATL announced its Chocolate BSS number surpassed 700 units in 39 cities across China. Company officials highlighted that eleven of these cities have established battery swap free zones with 10-minute station discovery in core urban areas and 100-second swap. The 700th station opened in Jinan, Shandong.
Locations like Chongqing, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Hefei, Qingdao, and Jinan offer the most developed network. 179 stations were built in the Yangtze River Delta region, covering key cities as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, and Hefei. 123 stations have been installed in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration has deployed 121 battery swap stations. 116 stations have been installed in the Greater Bay Area. The largest battery maker aims to progress towards county-wide battery swap access.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, CATL is determined to reach the previously announced goal of 1,000 swap stations. The plan for 2026 is to install over 2,500 BSS across China. Moreover, it was previously reported that CATL plans to expand its battery swap business into Europe. CATL is currently cooperating with Changan, GAC, FAW, Wuling, and SAIC in the field of battery swap technology.
More about CATL’s swappable batteries
CATL’s swappable batteries are called Choco-SEB. They are stored in standardized swap stations with 14 – 30 compartments. It takes each station 100 seconds to change a depleted battery for a charged one. The maximum daily capacity of one station is 822 swaps. According to CATL, the cost of using a Choco-SEB battery swap subscription plan is 0.1 yuan per km (0.014 USD).
Two chemistry variants are supported: LFP and ternary NMC. The first battery is 20#. It provides up to 500 km of CLTC range to A0-class vehicles. The second pack is 25# with a range of up to 600 km under CLTC conditions. It is designed for A-to-B-class BEVs.
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