China’s largest battery producer CATL announced that they would start a battery swap service for electric vehicles (EVs) called EVOGO.
The service will allow users to swap car batteries in under a minute.
The company announced that EVOGO would launch in ten cities around China. Users will have access to the service via an app.
The FAW Group’s Bestune NAT multi-purpose vehicle will be the first vehicle that the service will be compatible with.
In addition, CATL plans to add additional models in the feature.
CATL’s move into a battery as a service model is not a complete surprise. For instance, NIO has already built a network of 700 battery swapping stations in China and can change batteries in three minutes.
The model has proven successful, and NIO is now looking to deploy the model outside of China.
CATL and the manufacturers who use their batteries are experiencing a bit of a pinch in China. Consumers are looking for cheaper vehicles, and many in the country are experiencing “range anxiety”: with the current EVs on the market. A batter as a service model removes this anxiety and keeps the overall cost of the vehicle down.
There is no word if CATL plans to take EVOGO outside of China, nor any rumours on what other models will take on the battery as a service model with EVOGO.
