CATL and Didi Partnership To Improve Battery Swapping Technology By CIOTechOutlook Team

CATL and Didi Partnership To Improve Battery Swapping Technology

CIOTechOutlook Team | Monday, 29 January 2024, 08:41 IST

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery goliath CATL and ride-hailing force to be reckoned with Didi have framed a joint endeavor (JV) zeroing in on battery-trading innovation, as they try to use their assets to gain ground in China's EV charging foundation market.

The tie-up will see the companies work closely to "swiftly build out battery-swapping stations and promote vehicles' support for swapping technology", according to a statement CATL published to its official WeChat account, as per South China Morning Post.

According to CATL, the new venture will make public EV charging more efficient and green the transportation industry. It will likewise use the organizations' mechanical and functional benefits by serving Didi's EV armada from the offset.

"The public transport market is characterised by a large user pool [and] high charging frequency ... making it a valuable business scenario for battery-swapping services," CATL said in the statement.

The JV declaration comes closely following a proclamation from China's Service of Industry and Data Innovation at a meeting held in late December that repeated its help for battery-trading tech, with pilot projects set to start for public vehicle this year.

As per data compiled by the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA), the number of battery-swapping stations will rapidly increase throughout China in 2023, rising by 80% from 2,000 stations in January to 3,567 by the end of December.

Fixed charging offices are still significantly more typical, with 2.7 million public stands in China toward the finish of 2023. Compared to January's 1.8 million charging stands, that represented a 50% increase.

When compared to the 20 minutes it takes on average to charge a battery sufficiently to provide 300 miles (483 km) of range, which can lead to lengthy wait times at charging stations, advocates of battery swapping point out that it only takes a few minutes.