Chinese battery giant CATL is giving its battery-service business a distinctive boost through a three-party battery-swapping agreement linking Huawei-affiliated Yinwang Intelligent Technology, CATL, and CATL's battery-swapping subsidiary, Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology (CAES).
The agreement covers cooperation on both swappable batteries and the swap-station network, with Yinwang providing the smart-vehicle technology link while CATL and its battery-service arm contribute battery and infrastructure capabilities.
The collaboration matters because CATL is trying to expand battery swapping beyond a collection of vehicle-specific solutions into a broader infrastructure layer embedded across multiple smart-vehicle platforms. Yinwang, meanwhile, sits closer to the intelligent-driving and vehicle-control stack than a conventional automaker, giving CATL a potentially wider route into future vehicle programs.
CATL's swap network gains a Huawei-linked entry point
CATL has spent the past two years trying to turn battery swapping from a niche fleet solution into an open ecosystem.
Its Choco-Swap network had surpassed 1,470 stations across 99 Chinese cities by April 2026, up from roughly 1,000 stations in 45 cities earlier in the year. CATL now plans to build 4,000 integrated charge-swap stations by end-2026, covering nearly 190 cities and a nationwide highway network spanning 12 vertical and 11 horizontal corridors.
The significance of the three-way agreement among Yinwang, CATL, and CAES goes beyond adding another vehicle customer. Because Yinwang supplies intelligent-driving, vehicle electronics, and related smart-car technologies, cooperation creates a route for CATL's swap architecture to be considered earlier in vehicle-platform design rather than added after the fact.
CAES, meanwhile, serves as the CATL-side operator focused on battery-swapping services and network deployment, making the agreement structurally broader than a straightforward supplier-customer tie-up.
That could help CATL expand compatibility across multiple brands and models while reinforcing its push toward standardized batteries and network interoperability.
Standardization is the real scaling mechanism
CATL's larger strategy depends on reducing one of battery swapping's biggest weaknesses: fragmentation.
Its partnership with Nio already centers on unified battery standards, shared swapping networks, and cross-brand compatibility, with CATL's Choco-Swap specifications planned for future firefly models. The two companies also intend to promote national battery-swap standards covering battery development, asset management, reuse, and recycling.
CATL has pursued the same model elsewhere. Changan's five-year cooperation framework includes battery-swap mobility and intelligent vehicle robots, while BAIC has already introduced a Choco-Swap-compatible Arcfox model capable of a 99-second battery exchange.
The underlying logic is straightforward: the more manufacturers that converge around common battery formats and station interfaces, the easier it becomes to spread infrastructure costs across a larger vehicle base.
That turns swapping from a hardware feature into a network business.
Commercial vehicles add a second scale engine
CATL is applying the same playbook beyond passenger cars.
Its QIJI heavy-duty truck platform is being integrated into partnerships with Yutong and logistics operator J&T Express. CATL will provide swapping infrastructure and services for more than 5,000 J&T heavy-duty trucks, with exchange times of roughly 3–5 minutes.
CATL and Sinopec are also working toward a much larger national network, with a long-term target of 10,000 battery-swap stations.
This matters because commercial fleets offer higher utilization than private cars, potentially improving station economics and giving CATL a stronger base from which to expand.
Economics still decide whether the network works
The technological argument for swapping is clear, but the commercial case depends heavily on utilization.
CATL says batteries account for roughly 30–40% of EV cost, while battery-as-a-service models can cut upfront vehicle prices by as much as CNY70,000 (approx. US$10,400).
But a large station footprint becomes an advantage only if enough compatible vehicles actually use it. Low utilization could leave operators carrying substantial infrastructure costs.
That is why the Yinwang-CATL-CAES agreement is strategically meaningful. CATL is no longer trying to win the swapping market one automaker at a time. It is increasingly building relationships with technology-platform providers, battery-service operators, OEMs, energy companies, and logistics groups simultaneously.
If standardized batteries, intelligent-vehicle architectures, and shared swap networks continue converging, CATL could move further beyond supplying cells and become part of the operating infrastructure underpinning China's next generation of smart EVs.
Article edited by Ysi Chen
