BAIC Group and CATL signed an expanded battery-swapping agreement on October 22, 2026, to connect compatible models from multiple BAIC brands to CATL’s Choco-Swap network. The partners’ reported ambition is a mature Chinese ecosystem serving vehicles at the million-vehicle scale, with BAIC dealerships helping support station locations.
How the agreement is meant to work
CnEVPost reported, citing a BAIC statement, that the cooperation covers vehicle and battery development, swap-station network construction, battery-energy services and new business models. BAIC is to connect compatible vehicles from several of its brands to Choco-Swap. Its dealership network is to help identify station sites, and the companies are exploring joint development and operation of stations with dealers.
The partners also aim to consolidate swap assets under specialized management and promote unified standards and interoperable networks. For drivers, compatibility depends on the vehicle and battery system: a CATL-supplied battery alone does not establish that a vehicle can use a CATL swap station.
A million-vehicle ambition, alongside CATL’s existing network
The million-vehicle figure describes the scale of the partners’ ambition, not a dated deployment target. CATL’s network was reported at 2,520 battery-swap stations across 200 Chinese cities as of September 29, 2026, before the agreement was signed.
Battery swapping replaces a depleted pack with a charged one at a station. The agreement sets out cooperation on vehicles, stations and related services, while its stated goal describes the scale the partners hope the Chinese ecosystem will reach.
BAIC and CATL had already worked on swap-compatible vehicles
The October agreement builds on earlier BAIC-CATL cooperation signed in June 2024, which covered swap-compatible vehicles, battery-block development and battery-data management, according to CnEVPost.
CnEVPost reported that the Arcfox Beta S3 swap version, using CATL’s Choco-SEB system, launched on May 22, 2026. A swap version of the Arcfox Beta T1 appeared in an August 2026 filing with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
