On December 23, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) released new information about its Choco-SEB (Swapping Electric Blocks) project. The project aims to standardize battery swaps across China and build 30,000 swap stations.
Six brands have already joined CATL’s battery swap syndicate and confirmed to mass produce 10 models with Choco-SEB swappable batteries. Among them are SGMW’s Wuling Bingo or GAC Aion S, which will launch with battery swap support in early 2025.
CATL’s Choco-SEB swap stations will have 14 – 30 large battery compartments. It will take 100 seconds to change an empty battery for a full one, and the daily capacity is 822 swaps. The cost of using a Choco-SEB battery swap subscription will be 0.1 yuan/km (0.014 USD), according to CATL.
The swap success rate will be 99.99%, CATL adds. The Chinese battery giant aims to form 33.6 million kWh of energy storage in battery swap stations and 1.12 billion kWh of storage inside the vehicles. CATL will also implement a B2G (battery to the grid) system, which enables energy stored in EV batteries to be sent back to the electrical grid when needed.
The company will build 1,000 swap stations in 2025, with a target of 10,000 in the medium term (CATL didn’t provide a specific date) and 30,000 in the final stage.
The Choco-SEB battery packs come in 20# and 25# packs as alternatives to gasoline 92 and 95 octan grades, according to CATL. Both types can be LFP or NMC and offer a range of up to 600 km.
20# battery Choco-SEB (A0 class vehicles)
- Travel plan (52 kWh NMC): 469 yuan/month (64 USD)
- Family plan (42 kWh LFP): 369 yuan/month (50 USD)
25# battery Choco-SEB (A/B class vehicles)
- Travel plan (70 kWh NMC): 599 yuan/month (82 USD)
- Family plan (56 kWh LFP): 499 yuan/month (68 USD)
Battery swap syndicate
CATL’s main target is to standardize the battery swap in China, so it revealed strong partners in its battery swap syndicate. Those include GAC, BAIC, Wuling, SAIC, or FAW. CATL also released a timeline of EV launches with Choco-SEB support, starting with Chnagan Oshan 520 early next year.
- Changan Oshan 520 (launch in Q1 2025)
- GAC Aion S (launch in Q2 2025)
- Hongqi E-QM5 (launch in Q2 2025)
- SAIC Roewe D7 (launch in Q4 2025)
- BAIC C66 (launch in Q1 2026)
- Wuling Bingo (TBA)
- Wuling Starlight (TBA)
- SAIC Rising F7 (TBA)
- SAIC Maxus Mifa 9 (TBA)
- SAIC Maxus Dana (TBA)
The current battery swap leader in China, Nio, was not mentioned in CATL’s presentation. Nio launched the new EV brand Firefly on Saturday, and company CEO William Li said there are possibilities for cooperation between Firefly and CATL’s battery swap syndicate without further details.
Nio’s third-generation swap station (PSS 3.0) has 21 battery compartments and can perform up to 408 battery swaps daily. One swap takes approximately 3 minutes.
CATL unveiled the Choco-SEB swappable batteries in China on December 18 to standardize battery swapping. “We will continue to promote the standardization of battery swapping – the most important thing is the standardization of battery size,” said CATL CEO Robert Zheng during the conference.
