(Yicai) Nov. 19 -- General Motors’ Chinese joint venture with SAIC Motor and Wuling Motors has become the first maker of commercial vehicles to join Contemporary Amperex Technology’s battery swapping alliance.

The Wuling Yangguang, a minivan scheduled for market launch next year, will be the first commercial vehicle to use CATL’s Choco-SEB swappable battery blocks, Zhou Xing, general manager of branding and communications at SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, said at a press briefing yesterday.

The Liuzhou-based joint venture’s first Choco-SEB passenger vehicle is still in development, he said.

Battery swapping vehicles offer much shorter energy top-up times, matching the needs of commercial vehicle owners, Zhou said. As battery swapping can make vehicles cheaper, this technology can also lower the barrier to ownership, he added.

CATL is focused on to-business battery swapping for ride-hailing services. In January 2022, the Ningde-based company launched its battery swapping brand Evogo along with three related products, including Choco-SEB.

In the past two years, seven companies, including passenger car producers GAC Aion and BAIC BluePark New Energy Vehicle Technology as well as ride-hailing giant Didi Global, have teamed up with Evogo.

CATL is in talks with more automakers, so others are expected to join its battery swapping alliance soon, insiders told Yicai. The company plans to launch battery swapping services in more than 200 Chinese cities by 2025, according to a previous announcement.

CATL’s alliance is one of the two pushing battery swapping systems in China. New energy vehicle startup Nio leads the other, which also has been joined by about eight carmakers.

To cut development and operating for battery-swappable vehicles and sustainably develop the swapping ecosystem, the two groupings are working hard to unify technology standards and build swapping stations nationwide.

Editor: Futura Costaglione