On December 19, the Financial News reported (Reporter Xu Hao) that in one day, the two major leaders in the New Energy Vehicle battery swap market sent signals to the outside world that they would 'carry out battery swapping to the end', seemingly indicating that this energy replenishment model, which has been questioned by the market, has seen the light of day.

On December 18, NIO's Battery Swap Station | The G25 Changshen Highway Hongze Lake Service Area is online, marking the official establishment of NIO's nationwide 9 vertical and 9 horizontal highway battery swap network. As of that day, NIO has built 2,808 battery swap stations nationwide, with the number of highway battery swap stations reaching 913.

On the same day that NIO announced the official establishment of its nationwide 9 vertical and 9 horizontal highway battery swap network, Contemporary Amperex Technology also began sharing its chocolate battery swap technology with more ecological partners. That day, 'Ning Wang' launched two standardized battery swap batteries, 20# and 25#, suitable for A0 level and A/B level vehicles respectively, and jointly initiated the chocolate battery swap ecosystem with nearly a hundred partners.

'By 2030, battery swapping, home charging, and public charging stations will each take one-third of the market.' Contemporary Amperex Technology's founder and chairman, Zeng Yuqun, promised while looking forward to the energy replenishment prospects of New Energy Vehicles, that all future battery new technologies from Contemporary Amperex Technology will be applied to the chocolate battery swap models.

According to Contemporary Amperex Technology's plans, 1,000 chocolate battery swap stations will be self-built by 2025, with expansion into Hong Kong and Macau; in the medium-term plan, Contemporary Amperex Technology will cooperate with various partners to jointly build 0.01 million stations; as the battery swap ecosystem grows, through community building, the number of battery swap stations will eventually reach 0.03 million.

On December 14, FAW Hongqi, Contemporary Amperex Technology, and Times Electric jointly announced that the three parties have officially signed a framework agreement for the battery swap project. According to the agreement, the three parties will fully integrate their respective technical expertise and market resources in the New Energy sector to comprehensively cover the market promotion, battery swap services, and efficient operation of battery swap batteries for the Hongqi brand chocolate battery swap models.

Previously, Contemporary Amperex Technology had already cooperated with Changan, Guangzhou Automobile Group, Beijing Automotive, Wuling, and other car companies to jointly launch 10 battery swap models. It is reported that the ten models will gradually be launched starting from the end of this year, and there will be models introduced to the market every quarter thereafter.

Similar to the idea of sharing the operation costs of battery swapping facilities with more partners through Contemporary Amperex Technology, NIO, which has laid out its battery swapping business earlier, is also continuously expanding its battery swapping alliance. Public information shows that since November 2023, NIO has established battery swapping cooperation with Chongqing Changan Automobile, Geely Holding, Chery Automobile, Jiangxi Automobile Group, Lotus Technology, Guangzhou Automobile Group, and China FAW. According to Tianfeng Securities reporters, this battery swapping alliance of NIO is still expanding, and the next to join may be a new energy brand under a traditional automobile manufacturer in China.

Most of the (battery swapping alliance) companies are already discussing how to align their subsequent technology planning. By 2027 and 2028, there will be a considerable number of vehicles using our battery swapping technology,” said Li Bin, Chairman of NIO, revealing the product R&D progress of battery swapping alliance partners.

For a long time, the battery swapping model has faced skepticism due to high costs and insufficient profitability, but from its inception, NIO has regarded the battery swapping business as its brand moat.

“Currently, 20% of the battery swapping stations have reached the breakeven standard, which means that 80% are advanced layouts.” Li Bin has compared this business to Amazon's Cloud Computing Service multiple times, “If everyone imagines battery swapping as when Amazon was starting to develop Cloud Computing Services in 2003, they will find several similarities: First, a strong network effect. The battery swapping station network is equivalent to the infrastructure of the energy internet. Second, the scale of investment is large, and the investment cycle is long. Back then, Amazon, Google, and others invested over billions of dollars in factories and equipment. Third, from serving oneself to serving external customers, once established, the threshold will be very high.”

Although the profitability of the battery swapping model has not been fully verified, institutions predict that the market potential is enormous. According to Open Source Securities, by 2025, the market scale of the battery swapping industry chain in China is expected to reach 133.4 billion yuan, with the market scales for battery swapping station equipment, power batteries, and operation segments being 16.44 billion yuan, 25.55 billion yuan, and 91.41 billion yuan respectively.