CATL Choco-Swap Stations Surpass 700, with a Goal of Over 2,500 by 2026

ChocolateSwap aims to build over 2,500 swap stations across more than 120 Chinese cities by 2026.

On October 21, CATL’s Choco-Swap officially announced that its nationwide network has surpassed 700 stations. The company will now focus its efforts in the fourth quarter on achieving the target of 1,000 stations by 2025.

According to public data, the previous industry record for building 1,000 stations took over four years. Choco-Swap, however, is set to accomplish this in just one year—from its first station to the 1,000th.

To date, Choco-Swap has been deployed in 39 cities across China. The regional breakdown includes 179 stations in the Yangtze River Delta, 123 in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, 121 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster, and 116 in the Greater Bay Area.

Alongside the rapid expansion of its energy replenishment network, Choco-Swap is also continuously expanding its partnerships with automakers. It currently collaborates with 6 major automotive groups on 20 popular battery-swappable models.

It is worth highlighting that GAC Group took the lead by signing a comprehensive ecosystem agreement with CATL. Beyond intensively introducing swappable models, the two parties will also deepen cooperation in areas such as station construction, battery banking, second-life uses for retired batteries in the used car market, and digitalization of marketing channels.

CATL stated that all future new battery technologies will be prioritized for the Choco-Swap system. It will also keep expanding the “Chocolate Alliance,” partnering with JD Auto, DiDi, Sinopec, and others to integrate the entire chain from sales and energy replenishment to after-market services.

According to the plan, Choco-Swap aims to build over 2,500 swap stations across more than 120 Chinese cities by 2026.

To achieve this goal, CATL is also actively collaborating with automakers. Based on a cooperation agreement signed with NIO, the two companies will jointly build the world’s largest battery swap network and promote the unification of technical standards within the industry.

Simultaneously, CATL is advancing a strategic investment of up to RMB 2.5 billion in NIO Energy, further completing the closed loop that serves both the B2B and B2C battery swap markets.