Huawei’s car unit joins CATL’s 2,520-station battery swap network

Yinwang, Huawei’s automotive unit, has signed a strategic cooperation framework with CATL and CAES, CATL’s battery-swapping subsidiary. The agreement covers both swappable battery packs and access to CATL’s Choco-swap station network. Its purpose is to make more vehicles work with a shared swapping system.

CATL says the initial focus is vehicles using Huawei’s Qiankun smart-driving systems. Those vehicles would become compatible with Choco stations. The companies also want to connect the vehicle, station, and cloud. The car could monitor its battery, predict when energy is needed, locate a station, and enter it automatically.

The swap itself is expected to take 99 seconds. However, the agreement remains a framework. The companies have not announced specific vehicle models, a launch date, or service areas. Yinwang is 80% owned by Huawei, with Seres and Avatr owning 10% each.

Battery swapping is an energy-refueling method for electric vehicles. Instead of connecting the vehicle to a charger, a station removes its depleted battery pack and installs a charged pack. The car leaves with stored energy, while the removed pack can be recharged for another vehicle.

Charging keeps the battery inside the vehicle and transfers electricity into it through a cable or charging equipment. Swapping can reduce the vehicle’s stop time, but it requires compatible battery packs, specialized stations, and a system for handling many batteries. CATL wants the car to find a station and line itself up automatically.

The article quotes 99 seconds for CATL’s swap itself. It also notes that faster chargers have reduced swapping’s original advantage. Most EV owners still charge at home, so the article presents swapping as a complement to charging, especially potentially useful for robotaxis and commercial fleets.

CATL’s Choco-swap network has expanded rapidly across China. It ended 2025 with 1,020 stations, passed 2,000 at the start of July, and reached 2,520 stations across about 200 Chinese cities by September 29. CATL is building more than 200 stations each month.

The company aims to exceed 3,000 stations by the end of the year and eventually reach 30,000. That scale matters because battery swapping needs a broad network to become useful beyond a small pilot. CATL relaunched its swapping effort around standardized packs at the end of 2024.

NIO remains larger by station count. It had 3,790 stations and passed 110 million swaps by June, after reaching its 100 millionth swap in February. CATL’s network is growing quickly and has partners including Huawei, GAC, BAIC, and NIO, making it more broadly shared.

Compatibility would let vehicles using Huawei’s Qiankun smart-driving systems use CATL’s Choco-swap stations. That expands swapping beyond a single automaker’s network and gives participating vehicles access to CATL’s growing infrastructure.

The key mechanism is automation. CATL wants the vehicle, station, and cloud to work together. The vehicle would assess its battery status and the driver’s habits, decide when energy is needed, find a suitable station, drive into it, and line itself up for the exchange. CATL quotes 99 seconds for the swap itself.

This could be especially useful for robotaxis and commercial fleets, where keeping vehicles working matters. The article does not announce specific models, launch timing, or service areas. It also says swapping would complement, rather than replace, home charging and fast charging for ordinary EV owners.

Battery swapping depends on physical compatibility. A station must be able to remove one pack and install another with matching dimensions, connections, controls, and vehicle support. If every automaker uses a different design, a station cannot serve many brands efficiently.

That is why the article calls standardization the central challenge. NIO showed that swapping can work for one brand, but a single-brand network is mainly a customer perk. CATL is trying to create shared infrastructure by offering standardized packs that several automakers can support. Huawei’s agreement adds another major participant.

CATL has unusual leverage because it supplies roughly 40% of the world’s EV battery cells. The article says automakers listen when CATL introduces a standard pack. Its Choco partners already include GAC, BAIC, and NIO. Wider compatibility could spread station costs across more vehicles and make swapping more practical.

Battery swapping lost momentum because its main advantage was speed, and charging kept getting faster. Tesla demonstrated a 90-second swap in 2013 but later let its single pilot station fade after owners showed little interest. Better Place raised about $850 million and went bankrupt in 2013.

The deeper problem was standardization. Swapping needs many automakers to share packs, but manufacturers generally do not want to share the most expensive part of the vehicle. NIO showed that one brand could build a working network, yet that remained a brand service rather than broad infrastructure.

CATL’s approach is more viable because it supplies roughly 40% of the world’s EV battery cells and can promote standardized packs across automakers. Its Choco network reached 2,520 stations in under two years and is expanding by more than 200 monthly. Huawei also adds automated driving and station alignment.

In the EV energy system, battery cells are the basic storage units. Many cells are assembled into a battery pack, which provides the voltage, capacity, monitoring, and physical structure an electric vehicle needs. The article focuses on CATL as a major cell supplier and on standardized packs for swapping.

An electric vehicle uses the pack’s stored energy to power its motor. A charging station sends electricity into the pack while it remains in the vehicle. A swap station instead removes the depleted pack and installs a charged compatible pack. The station can then recharge the removed pack for later use.

This relationship explains why standardization matters. Cells may come from a large supplier, but packs must fit the vehicle and station. CATL’s Choco system is building a shared network around standardized packs. Huawei’s Qiankun systems could help vehicles locate stations and complete swaps automatically.