Author | Zhou Zhiyu

Editor | Zhang Xiaoling

Ten years ago, troubled by inefficient battery swapping and high costs, Tesla founder Musk abandoned battery swapping and shifted the focus of Tesla's energy supplement system to fast charging. Since then, the heavy asset model of battery swapping stations has deterred car manufacturers from significant investments in this area, with few exceptions apart from NIO.

Construction costs and the standardization of battery specifications have become challenges hindering the popularization of battery swapping stations. Contemporary Amperex Technology has made a commitment to solve these issues.

On December 18, Contemporary Amperex Technology Chairman Zeng Yuqun made a rare appearance at his company's press conference to promote the Chocolate Battery Swapping Ecosystem. He also did not hide the ambition of Contemporary Amperex Technology to accelerate its layout in the battery swapping field, claiming that by 2030, battery swapping, home charging, and public Charging Stations will share the market equally.

According to Contemporary Amperex Technology's plan, it will build 1,000 Chocolate Battery Swapping Stations by 2025, while also entering the Hong Kong and Macau markets; in the mid-term plan, it will collaborate with various partners to construct 0.01 million stations; on a longer-term scale, through social collaboration, it aims to ultimately establish a total of 0.03 million Chocolate Battery Swapping Stations.

Presenting a blueprint for 10,000 battery swapping stations, Contemporary Amperex Technology, as a leading power battery company, intends to introduce standardized battery products, develop a new infrastructure for battery swapping networks, and invite more car manufacturers, Financial Institutions, and other partners to join, forming a complete battery swapping ecosystem.

Contemporary Amperex Technology is also aware that this is not an easy task. Zeng Yuqun admitted that battery swap is a capital-intensive, high-investment, and long-cycle industry, involving many stakeholders and a complex chain. This requires further promotion to advance battery swapping into an era of standardization, allowing more partners to co-build the battery swapping ecosystem.

At the press conference, Zeng Yuqun announced that in reference to gasoline stations with RBOB Gasoline 92# and 95#, Contemporary Amperex Technology launched two standardized chocolate battery swap blocks, 20# and 25#.

The two standard model battery blocks are respectively suitable for A0 level and A/B level vehicles, both equipped with lithium iron phosphate and ternary two battery power versions. Yang Jun, CEO of Contemporary Amperex Technology's battery service, introduced that the 20# battery swap block's lithium iron phosphate version has a capacity of 42 kWh, corresponding to a range of 400 kilometers; the ternary version has 52 kWh, capable of a range of 500 kilometers; the 25# battery swap block's lithium iron phosphate can have a capacity of 56 kWh with a range of 500 kilometers; the ternary version has a capacity of 70 kWh with a range of 600 kilometers.

Moreover, Zeng Yuqun promised that all new battery technologies from Contemporary Amperex Technology in the future will be applied to chocolate battery swap models.

After solving the battery standardization issue, Contemporary Amperex Technology believes this can significantly reduce the development costs of battery swap vehicles and compress the new vehicle development cycle by more than six months.

Yang Jun emphasized that standardization would not lead to homogenization. Contemporary Amperex Technology provides the battery solutions, while automotive partners leverage their advantages in intelligence and personalization.

The battery swap solution offered by Contemporary Amperex Technology is indeed very efficient, with the official claim being a 100s battery swap, but at the scene, Wall Street Watch observed that some demonstration models could achieve a battery swap in about 80s, which far exceeds the refueling time of fast charging solutions for battery blocks of the same size.

In terms of usage costs, Contemporary Amperex Technology first launched the rental prices for the "lithium iron phosphate version" battery swap in the market, with monthly rental prices ranging from 369 yuan to 599 yuan. Additionally, users can freely choose to upgrade the battery, either by buying it out or repurchasing it.

Currently, Contemporary Amperex Technology has officially announced partnerships with automotive companies such as Changan, GAC, BAIC, Wuling, and FAW, launching ten models, which will gradually hit the market starting at the end of this year, with almost every subsequent quarter having new models introduced.

Of course, most users selecting battery-swapping vehicles are considering Online Car-hailing purposes, with a monthly travel mileage exceeding 4,000 to 5,000 kilometers. How to innovate in vehicle products and battery subscription plans to adapt to more family-oriented scenarios and dispel prejudices when users purchase vehicles is a key issue that needs to be addressed to further promote the popularization of the battery-swapping model.

In addition to car manufacturers, Contemporary Amperex Technology also announced cooperation with Financial Institutions and Insurance Institutions to facilitate collaboration in the battery-swapping field, further alleviating consumers' concerns about using and changing vehicles. For example, The People's Insurance and other insurance companies will provide specialized battery insurance, lowering the battery premium from 2,000 yuan to 500 yuan; financial institutions like CMB Financial Leasing will offer innovative financial products and services, transforming current vehicle financial plans into body financial plans to further reduce vehicle purchase costs.

This will allow sensitive mainstream market consumers regarding vehicle purchase costs to acquire vehicles at a lower threshold. This represents further innovation in business model outside of technological innovation. Contemporary Amperex Technology revealed that 0.1075 million battery subscriptions have currently been signed with 30 companies.

Zeng Yuqun stated that battery swapping is a compound type of innovation, a reconstruction of new energy products based on user demands. It is also a key that provides every consumer with a more economical, convenient, safe, and eco-friendly travel method.

Battery swapping is also a key for Contemporary Amperex Technology to unlock its brand new future.

In just 13 years, Contemporary Amperex Technology has rapidly risen to prominence with the tide of new energy, achieving a market cap exceeding one trillion yuan, becoming one of the few important suppliers in China's international new energy Industry Chain with significant influence. However, it also understands that to stand firm and last long, it needs to go further in the era of new energy and continue to innovate in both technology and business models.

According to CITIC SEC's estimates, under the current investment cost, the breakeven point for a single Passenger Vehicle battery-swapping station is to service about 60 vehicles daily.

This also means that as the investment cost of Batteries decreases and the number of Battery Swap vehicles increases, the economic viability of Charging Station Operations will also improve.

In the future, with the establishment of 0.03 million integrated Charging Stations, this is equivalent to having 0.03 million distributed energy storage units, which can handle a total of 33.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Combined with the Batteries equipped on the service vehicles, a vast energy storage network will be formed. Contemporary Amperex Technology can use its scheduling "brain" cloud platform to connect these energy storage units to the power grid and park photovoltaics, participating in grid interaction and responding to grid calls.

Contemporary Amperex Technology can also expand its labels beyond current power battery manufacturers to include "Battery Asset Operators" and even become "Future Energy Operators." This will provide Contemporary Amperex Technology with more possibilities to seek a brand new future.