China's Battery-Swapping E-Trucks Cut Refuelling to Five Minutes

A battery swap on a heavy electric truck in China takes about five minutes. The same truck on plug-in charging needs 90 minutes. That gap, plus fuel savings above 20,000 yuan (£2,200) per month, is driving rapid adoption of swapping among Chinese trucking fleets, with more than 400,000 e-trucks sold last year — over 90% of the global total.

The figures frame a technology race with direct consequences for battery demand, grid load and the economics of zero-emission freight. About one-third of China's zero-emission trucks sold in 2024 featured swappable batteries, according to the latest available data. The rest relied largely on conventional plug-in charging.

What changed on the route?

Wang Bing, 53, has driven lorries for nearly three decades, the first two on diesel. In July his plug-in e-truck was replaced by a swappable-battery model. He now hauls roughly five tonnes of goods daily between Haikou and Dongfang on Hainan island, a round trip of about 500 kilometres, sharing the wheel with a colleague in eight-hour shifts.

"When my battery runs low, I just drive my truck into a battery-swapping station to get a fully charged one," he said. "It is much, much faster. I don't even need to leave my truck when the battery is being swapped."

The operating math favors electricity. Wang puts per-kilometre fuelling cost at about 1.1 yuan (12p) in Hainan, against more than 2 yuan (22p) for a diesel truck. "Electricity is cheaper than oil," he said. "That means my e-truck can save more than 20,000 yuan per month."

How does the station work?

At a Qiji Energy station in Suzhou, cameras identify the battery type from the truck's number plate on approach. "All the driver needs to do is to drive the truck into a designated area, and the battery will be swapped completely automatically," said Wei Jiuchun, 46, a test driver who checks the system across heavy-truck models and weather conditions.

Qiji Energy is a subsidiary brand of CATL, the world's biggest battery manufacturer, which launched its truck-swapping system in 2023. Nio commercialised swapping for passenger EVs in China nearly a decade earlier. CATL's backing is decisive for scale rollout, said Phate Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based EV outlet CnEVPost.

CATL plans 900 swap stations in operation across China by the end of this year, tripling its current network. The target for end-2027 is 2,000. The company has also partnered with London-based renewable supplier Octopus to bring the technology to Europe, with a first group of swap "mega hubs" planned in the UK next year and more than 30 hubs across Europe by 2035.

Why does the business model matter?

Swapping also lowers the purchase barrier. Buyers typically take the truck without a battery and rent the pack from a service provider. A battery accounts for about 40% of an e-truck's price, so the model cuts the upfront lump sum sharply, said Mao Shiyue, a Beijing-based researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation.

Stations also ease grid pressure. They can charge depleted packs off-peak and, during demand spikes, "act as an energy-storage station by returning the electricity stored in their batteries back to the grid to ease the strain," Mao said.

What limits the rollout?

Standardisation is the weak point. Drivers must stick to providers matching their battery type. "Some batteries are swapped from the chassis, while others are swapped from the top of the truck," said Xue Lulu, senior associate at World Resources Institute China. "Even under the same technological route, batteries made by different companies often have different specifications." Drivers cannot use any random station, which can restrict routes.

Time savings are also not guaranteed. Xue's field research found lorry drivers waiting one to two hours outside stations to avoid peak-hour fees. "Logistics firms are extremely sensitive to costs," she said.

Adoption has worked best on fixed routes — ports, factories, intra-city and inter-city corridors. "For unpredicted and long-haul routes, there are still challenges for rolling it out on a large scale," Mao said.

The milestone to watch: CATL's 900-station target closes at year-end, and the first UK mega hubs follow next year.