China is not only leading the game when it comes to EVs but is set to revolutionize how you charge them too. China’s top EV manufacturers are taking battery swapping to the next level. Changan Automobile recently rolled out the first 1,000 units of its Oshan 520 sedan. They are built with local taxi services in mind, but these cars are also significant for a key reason. They are the first to use CATL’s new Choco-SEB swappable battery packs. What’s amazing is that these battery packs can be swapped in just 100 seconds at specialized stations. Chongqing city already has 34 Choco-SEB swap stations, and by 2025, CATL plans to have 1,000 of these stations spread across 31 cities. Interestingly, CATL is the world’s largest EV battery supplier. It has signed deals with companies like GAC, Chery, Nio, SAIC, FAW, BAIC, and others to build EVs with these new battery packs. This way, vehicles from these brands will be able to use CATL’s swap stations, which can handle 822 swaps each day. Apart from the Oshan 520 cab, other Chinese EVs have also agreed to support the Choco-SEB battery system. These include the new GAC Aion S, Hongqi E-QM5, SAIC Roewe D7, BAIC C66, Wuling Bingo, Wuling Starlight, SAIC Rising R7, SAIC Maxus Mifa 9, and the SAIC Maxus Dana. Apart from being beneficial for taxi drivers who can instantly swap batteries quickly, such infra on highways could be a boon for long highway road trippers. This would be almost equal to filling up your ICE car at a fuel station. Source: Carscoops
