The newly opened 1,250 km Chengdu-Wuhan route is the longest yet in the Qiji battery swap network.
On December 23, the Sichuan-Chongqing-Hubei section of the Qiji Battery Swap Shanghai-Chengdu Trunk Line was officially opened to traffic, marking the entry of this major east-west logistics artery into the stage of electrified operation.
It is worth adding that Qiji Battery Swap is a heavy-duty truck under-chassis battery swap solution independently developed by CATL’s subsidiary, Qiji.
At the opening ceremony, SINOTRUK (China National Heavy Duty Truck Group) and the core logistics enterprise in Southwest China, Bashu Logistics Group, signed a strategic agreement for a thousand under-chassis battery-swapping heavy trucks and completed the delivery of the first batch of 200 vehicles.
The newly opened section stretches from Chengdu in the west to Wuhan in the east, with a one-way total length of 1,250 kilometers, making it the longest trunk line in the Qiji Battery Swap network to date. The opening of this battery-swap trunk line is expected to significantly enhance the transportation efficiency, economic benefits, and environmental friendliness of electric heavy trucks.
The core of this launch is the initial deployment of 12 bidirectional battery swap stations. The under-chassis battery swap technology they employ enables highly efficient energy replenishment. After a vehicle enters the station, it takes only about 5 minutes to complete a battery swap, achieving a “fully charged and ready to go” status, which addresses the previous pain point of long charging times for electric heavy trucks.
Calculations estimate that the battery-swap model can compress the trunk line logistics transportation time from Chengdu to Wuhan to within 18 hours, improving overall efficiency by over 40% compared to traditional charging models.
In terms of economics, operational data shows that compared to traditional fuel-powered heavy trucks, heavy trucks using the under-chassis battery-swap model can save approximately 0.62 yuan per kilometer in operating costs. Based on a single vehicle traveling 100,000 kilometers per year, this translates to an annual saving of about 60,000 yuan in fuel and operating costs alone.
Public information indicates that Bashu Logistics, as a 5A-level logistics enterprise, owns more than 2,000 vehicles, with fuel costs accounting for about 30% of its total expenditure. The “economic case” for transitioning to new energy is therefore quite substantial.
On the environmental front, preliminary estimates suggest that the first 12 swap stations could achieve a daily battery swap capacity of 360,000 kWh, helping to reduce carbon emissions by over 40,000 tons annually. This is equivalent to planting nearly 3 million trees.
This collaboration achieves deep industrial ecosystem synergy across “vehicle manufacturing – power battery – energy service – logistics operation.”
According to the plan, the Shanghai-Chengdu Trunk Line will be fully connected to Shanghai by 2026. By 2030, a nationwide “eight horizontal and ten vertical” green battery-swap network, with a total scale of approximately 180,000 kilometers and covering 80% of the country’s trunk line freight capacity, will be initially established.
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