CATL's Qiji battery swap station on the Hu-Rong Expressway in the Sichuan-Chongqing-Hubei section is now open

The Chongqing Municipal Government announced that the Qiji Battery Swap Station on the Hu-Rong Expressway in the Sichuan-Chongqing-Hubei section was officially opened yesterday (23rd), with the first batch of 12 dual-direction battery swap stations officially put into operation. This marks the official entry into the "chassis battery swap" era for this logistics artery, which has a total length of 1,250 kilometers from Chengdu through Chongqing to Wuhan.

CATL (03750.HK) stated that after the opening of the Sichuan-Chongqing-Hubei section of the Hu-Rong Expressway, it will become the longest trunk line in the Qiji battery swap network of its subsidiary, Qiji. It is expected to significantly enhance the transportation efficiency, economy, and environmental benefits of electric heavy trucks. With an efficient energy replenishment model that allows for battery swapping in 5 minutes, the logistics time from Chengdu to Wuhan can be compressed to within 18 hours, improving efficiency by over 40%.

Based on an annual driving distance of 100,000 kilometers per vehicle, heavy trucks using the Qiji chassis battery swap can achieve approximately 60,000 RMB more in annual revenue compared to traditional fuel vehicles. CATL expects that the first batch of 12 dual-direction battery swap stations will have a daily battery swap volume of up to 360,000 kWh, which can help reduce emissions by over 40,000 tons annually.

According to the plan, the Hu-Rong Expressway will be fully connected to Shanghai by 2026, and by 2030, the Qiji battery swap network is expected to be built to a total scale of approximately 180,000 kilometers, covering 80% of the national trunk line capacity and 16 major urban agglomerations in a "eight horizontal and ten vertical" national battery swap green network.

At the opening ceremony, SINOTRUK (03808.HK) and Bashu Logistics reached a strategic agreement for 1,000 chassis battery swap heavy trucks and completed the first batch of deliveries