- CATL’s subsidiary and Kunming Development will build 100 Choco-Swap stations in Kunming, with 10 due this year.
- Kunming Development supplies land, infrastructure and local government access while CATL provides Choco-Swap systems and operations.
- The deal is CATL’s first SOE joint-operation and accelerates EVOGO’s nationwide open-network expansion beyond single-brand limits.
On Aug. 24, Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology, a CATL subsidiary, signed a strategic battery-swap cooperation agreement with Kunming Development New Energy. The two sides plan to jointly build 100 Choco-Swap stations in Kunming, with 10 expected to be completed this year.
Under the deal, Kunming Development will invest in, own and provide sites for the swap stations. It will also provide infrastructure, government and corporate resources. Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology will provide a standardized Choco-Swap system, along with operational support and system services.
The two sides will also unify station branding, battery configurations, pricing, marketing and service standards. The first phase will focus on station construction and the rollout of battery-swap vehicles.
The partnership will later expand into battery asset management, solar power, urban energy storage and other new-energy businesses.
Kunming Development was founded in 2010. The state-owned company is supervised by the Kunming State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Its businesses span gas stations, charging and battery-swap stations, new-energy operating platforms, and battery recycling and utilization.
The deal also marks Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology’s first joint-operation project with a local state-owned new-energy company.
The partnership points to a light-asset expansion model similar to NIO’s “Power Up Partner” strategy. NIO previously partnered with Optics Valley Transportation Group to deliver its first 36 charging and battery-swap stations.
The key difference is network access. NIO’s battery-swap network mainly serves NIO vehicles. CATL’s EVOGO network is open to a broader range of automakers.
The model can reduce reliance on a single company’s capital for battery-swap network construction. It can also tap local state-owned firms’ land, infrastructure and government resources, helping speed up station deployment.
As of June 30, CATL’s EVOGO Choco-Swap network had deployed about 2K stations across China, covering 180 cities. CATL expects the nationwide total to exceed 3K stations by the end of 2026.
Beyond Choco-Swap for passenger vehicles, CATL is also expanding into commercial-vehicle battery swapping.
CATL’s commercial-vehicle battery-swap business is mainly developed through Qiji Battery Swap. By the end of 2025, Qiji Battery Swap had built 305 swap stations. It plans to reach 900 stations in total in 2026.
Under its longer-term plan, the battery-swap network is expected to cover about 80% of China’s trunk freight capacity by 2030.
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