Its stock rose by 5.1% following the news yesterday.
CATL(30075:SH), the world's biggest power battery manufacturer, is ready to launch a brand called 'EVOGO' at 15:30 BST on January 18, 2022, aiming to provide battery swapping services to OEMs.
As a new energy supplement scheme for electric vehicles, battery swapping can solve the core pain point of electric vehicles' slow charging time.
In August 2020, together with NIO and Guotai Junan International, CATL invested and established Wuhan Weineng Battery Assets Co., Ltd., to promote the concept of the separation of vehicle and battery. It was also seen as NIO's preparation for the later deployment of the battery as a Service (BaaS) business.
CATL's client, NIO, is a primary advocator of battery swapping. According to NIO, 791 swap stations were erected in mainland China by January 15, 2022. NIO plans to expand the number of the stations to 1,300 by the end of this year.
The thriving domain of battery swapping is supported by the policy. In May of 2021, the National Energy Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly proposed speeding up the popularization and application of battery swapping. In October 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued the notice to start the trial of this swapping mode in 11 cities.
Although the government has called for this service, EVOGO will face many challenges. One is that battery packs of different NEV brands are not unified. Besides, OEMs are unwilling to support this mode and launch standardized battery packs as it would go against their interests.