- CATL is reportedly looking to purchase a controlling stake in Nio Power’s battery swapping unit.
- The battery giant recently infused more than $340 million into a joint partnership between the two companies.
- A change from a company as influential to EVs as CATL could reshape China’s EV charging industry.
Chinese EV battery titan CATL is reportedly looking to grow its empire. The world’s biggest battery company wants to be more than just a supplier. Its latest endeavor is a joint venture with Nio in a move that would standardize battery swapping—a move which would revolutionize the EV industry by making battery fast-swapping easy and broadly available.
But it isn’t looking to just be partners with Nio. According to Reuters, CATL believes in the idea so much that it’s looking to scoop up the controlling stake in Nio’s battery swapping arm, Nio Power.
In North America, battery swapping seems like either a thing of the future or a fad. But for Nio, it’s very much a real thing. In fact, Nio Power has more than 3,200 battery swapping stations set up across the globe like tiny EV pit lanes. Drivers pull in, park, and pull out with a fully charged battery faster than you can buy a gas station hot dog. And yes, that’s all without leaving your seat or plugging in. We’ve tried it ourselves, and it works.
Perhaps that’s why CATL thought it wise to sink a hefty $342 million (2.5 billion CNY) into the network last month before reportedly thinking—”Hey, you know what? Let’s just buy the whole thing.” After all, CATL is the biggest EV battery supplier on the planet.
CATL declined to comment on the rumor. However, four people familiar with the battery maker’s proposal spoke with Reuters on the matter. Nio didn’t address the rumor directly but told Reuters that it was speaking “with multiple investors, including CATL” regarding the join construction of battery swapping stations.
It’s not clear just how much CATL is willing to pay for the unit just yet, assuming the rumors are true. In 2024, Nio Power was valued at $1.4 billion (10 billion CNY) during a fundraising round. It also signed an agreement with Siopec, a state-owned oil company, to pump out an additional 10,000 swap stations in the coming years (at least 500 of which are to be built in 2025). So it’s fair to say that things are getting a bit serious for Nio.
It’s worth pointing out that China has been very big into the whole fast-charge game lately, though. In March, BYD revealed a metawatt charger capable of charging EVs in as little as five minutes. The company said would start deploying them for use as early as this month. That announcement would soon be overshadowed by Zeekr and Huawei which announced 1.2-megawatt and 1.5-megawatt chargers, respectively. With those kind of fast-chargers on the horizon, one might start questioning just how useful infrastructure-heavy battery swapping will be.
But if CATL is right and China’s EV market really is gravitating towards standard battery-swapping tech, there’s likely not a better source to provide the tech than the factory that also makes the batteries. It could also open up more flexibility for sales, allowing you to buy a smaller battery for daily use then rent a big pack for road trips. Either way, if this deal goes through, the rest of the industry is going to need to either get on board or go all-in on alternative options.
