According to Sing Tao Global Network, Aodong New Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as &#34;Aodong&#34;), which is deeply engaged in the battery swapping field, has recently officially submitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to become the &#34;first stock in battery swapping.&#34;
On the eve of the global new energy vehicle industry boom, &#34;Toy King&#34; Tsai Dongqing teamed up with battery swapping technology expert Zhang Jianping to establish Aodong. With its independent third-party battery swapping platform positioning and leading battery swapping speed, it attracted numerous international industrial capital investments from companies like Toyota, SoftBank, and Nio, with its valuation once soaring to 11.9 billion yuan.
However, with the gradual improvement of fast charging and supercharging infrastructure and the iterative upgrade of battery technology, the core advantage of battery swapping being &#34;fast&#34; has gradually diminished. Since 2023, Aodong has entered a downward development trajectory.
A deep dive into Aodong's prospectus reveals a &#34;crippled giant&#34; characterized by a failed strategic transformation, declining revenue, business contraction, and continuous massive losses.
Supercharging Breaks the Battery Swapping Moat
Aodong was established in 2016, and its acquired subsidiary Shanghai Dianba had already laid out its power battery business as early as 2009. Even earlier, a team led by co-founder Zhang Jianping had participated in battery swapping work for the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai Expo, and Guangzhou Asian Games.
Aodong primarily provides battery swapping services to related enterprises and individual users through equipment sales and self-operated battery swapping station operations. Relying on its self-developed buckle-type chassis battery swapping technology, Aodong has achieved industry-leading battery swapping efficiency—passenger cars can complete battery swapping in as fast as 20 seconds, light trucks in 30 seconds, and heavy trucks in 40 seconds.
As of June 30, 2025, Aodong's smart energy service platform has connected 521 battery swapping stations, including 267 self-owned stations; the platform has registered over 130,000 vehicles and manages more than 160,000 batteries.
According to data from ZhiShi Consulting, based on the operating service revenue of battery swapping stations in 2024, Aodong is the largest independent third-party battery swapping solution provider in China.
However, in the new energy vehicle refueling race, there has always been a competition between charging and battery swapping. In recent years, with the explosive growth of technologies such as fast charging, supercharging, and flash charging, charging is rapidly dismantling the &#34;speed moat&#34; of battery swapping.
According to Sing Tao, BYD's megawatt flash charging facility has a peak charging speed of 1 kilometer in 2 seconds, allowing ordinary passenger cars to be fully charged in 5 to 10 minutes.
Under the impact of technology, apart from commercial or operational vehicles such as light trucks, heavy trucks, and taxis, the battery swapping model is gradually losing its rationality in the vast passenger car market.
20 Billion Yuan Loss in Three and a Half Years
In the early stages of development, Aodong's core revenue source was battery swapping equipment sales. However, the company's business focus gradually shifted to the heavy asset model of self-operated battery swapping stations. As of the first half of 2025, the revenue from Aodong's battery swapping services accounted for 69.8%, while equipment sales revenue dropped to 17.1%.
The high investment and long payback period of the self-operated model have significantly dragged down Aodong's financial performance.
Since 2022, Aodong's gross profit margin has remained negative, with an overall gross loss margin of 8.9% in the first half of 2025, and the gross loss margin for its self-owned battery swapping station business reached 23.3%. In comparison, the light asset battery swapping operation service business had a gross profit margin of 58.7% in the first half of the year, but this segment only contributed 10% of the revenue
According to statistics from the Sing Tao reporter, from the beginning of 2022 to the end of June 2025, Aodong's cumulative loss reached 2.016 billion yuan.
To cope with operational pressure, Aodong has gradually slowed down the pace of building new self-operated battery swap stations in recent years, while shutting down some underperforming stations. As of the end of June 2025, the number of Aodong's self-operated battery swap stations has decreased to 267, a reduction of 54 from the peak in 2023, which has directly led to a continuous contraction in the company's revenue, with a year-on-year decline of 32% in the first half of 2025.
In addition, Aodong has also streamlined costs through layoffs, reducing over 90 employees in 2025; at the same time, it plans to optimize the allocation of R&amp;D resources by outsourcing the production of some commercial vehicle battery swap modules.
&#34;Pie in the sky&#34; financing, valuation once exceeded 10 billion
In the era relying on slow charging, Aodong's early financing was smooth sailing thanks to its rapid battery swap technology.
In 2018, Aodong introduced strategic investment from Nio Capital, and subsequently brought in over twenty investors through multiple rounds of financing, including Guangzhou State-owned Assets Investment Fund, Toyota TERRAS, South Korea's KIP, Sinopec Enze Fund, and SoftBank Energy, expanding its registered capital from the initial 370 million yuan to 9.51 billion yuan. In the B+++ round of financing in January 2022, Aodong's financing price reached 12.55 yuan per share, valuing the company at 11.9 billion yuan.
As of now, Cai Dongqing directly owns 39.11% of Aodong's shares and holds 0.99% of the shares through the employee stock ownership platform Zhuhai Aoli, while co-founder Zhang Jianping owns 13.24% of the shares.
Between 2020 and 2021, Aodong painted a grand vision for investors: to enter 100 cities nationwide by 2025 and build 5,000 battery swap stations to serve 2 million vehicles.
However, by 2025, Aodong has only achieved one-twentieth of its planned goals, due to factors such as the explosion of charging technology, difficulties in unifying battery specifications among car manufacturers, and excessive investment in heavy assets.
It is noteworthy that at a critical juncture in its push for the Hong Kong stock market, Aodong's board of directors underwent significant changes: in March 2025, six directors (Chen Yukai, Chen Daijun, Ye Hui, etc.) resigned on the same day, and in October of the same year, director Tang Dianqin also left.
Among the new board members, a family member of Cai Dongqing appeared—his brother-in-law Chen Shaowen was appointed as an executive director on October 25, 2025. This adjustment indicates that Aodong has chosen to return to a &#34;family-style&#34; trust bond in its governance.
Intern reporter Qu Hui, Guangzhou report

Aodong New Energy Co., Ltd. submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's main board, aiming to become the "first stock in battery swapping." The company has attracted international capital from Toyota, SoftBank, and others, with a valuation reaching HKD 11.9 billion. However, with the development of fast charging technology, the advantages of battery swapping have diminished. Since 2023, the company has faced difficulties including failed strategic transformation, declining revenue, business contraction, and ongoing losses

- Aodong New Energy recently submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to become the leader in battery swapping.  
- The company, founded by Tsai Dongqing and Zhang Jianping, has attracted significant investment but has faced a downturn due to advancements in fast charging technology, resulting in substantial operational losses and a decline in revenue.  
- As of mid-2025, Aodong's strategy and governance have shifted, indicating challenges in achieving its ambitious growth targets amidst a competitive landscape.

Aodong New Energy brings battery swapping technology to Hong Kong for fundraising, market focuses on the roadmap from loss to profit