Chinese Battery Maker CATL Launches Battery Swap Service for Electric Cars
At its first online launch event, Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology Ltd. (CAES), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), launched on Tuesday a new service for electric vehicles called EVOGO featuring modular battery swapping.
At present, the new energy automobile industry is now entering a stage of significant growth. However, anxiety surrounding mileage rates, energy energy sources, and overall costs have been plaguing consumers of these vehicles.
Comprised of battery blocks, fast battery swap stations and an app, EVOGO will be first launched in ten cities, said Chen Weifeng, general manager of CAES.
Designed to look like a bar of chocolate, “Choco-SEB (swapping electric block)” is a mass-produced battery specially developed for EV battery-sharing. It boasts the advantages of high-energy density with a smaller size, the ability to be combined with other, similar batteries, and a minimalist design. With the support of the latest CTP (cell to pack) technology, it can achieve a weight energy density of over 160 Wh/kg and a volume energy density of 325 Wh/L, enabling a single block to provide a driving range of 200 km. Meanwhile, the Choco-SEB is compatible with 80 percent of BEV platform-based vehicle models currently available on the global market, and all BEV platform-based models to be released within the next three years around the world.
The battery swap station highlights wide compatibility, need-based battery rentals while complementing available charging services. With a footprint equivalent to three parking spaces, a standard EVOGO battery swap station can house up to 48 Choco-SEBs and allows one-minute swapping for a single battery block, ensuring fully charged batteries for customers at any time without a long wait. Moreover, EVOGO offers a variety of swap stations to suit the climates of different regions.
The app links customers with different modules of EVOGO, allowing the connection among customers, vehicles, stations and batteries, and provides other services as well.
SEE ALSO: CATL to Unveil Battery Swap Brand EVOGO
Unlike conventional battery swap solutions, EVOGO has achieved two innovative modes of compatibility. Choco-SEB is designed to suit vehicles ranging from Class-A00, Class-B, and Class-C passenger cars to logistics vehicles. At the same time, the swap stations can match all vehicle models by different OEMs that use Choco-SEBs, allowing a freer choice of vehicle models for battery swaps.
