CATL adds 77 kWh backup pack to swap trucks, plans 2,000 stations by 2027

CATL wants long-haul electric trucks to swap batteries instead of waiting at chargers, and its latest fix for the swap truck's weak spot is a battery that stays on the truck. At an event in Beijing on October 20, 2026, the company unveiled a dual-electric range extension battery that pairs a leased, chassis-mounted swappable main pack with a 77 kWh pack behind the cab. It also added two larger standard swap blocks and said it plans, with partners, to deploy 900 swap stations by the end of 2026, 2,000 by 2027 and eventually 10,000 nationwide.

The problem being solved is driver nerves. CATL says drivers of swap trucks often return to a station with capacity left over because they are reluctant to run the battery low; CnEVPost, reporting CATL's figures, puts the typical leftover at about 30%. The backup pack is meant to make running lower tolerable. CATL says it raises the main battery's depth of discharge from about 70% to over 95%, so the leased pack can come back at less than 5% state of charge, with power delivery handed to the backup within milliseconds.

The two packs are also owned differently, which is where the fleet economics come in. The backup supports 3C charging and stays with the truck as an asset for its service life. The main pack can be leased according to seasonal freight demand, which CATL pitches as a way to cut rental costs during quieter periods.

Bigger blocks, same five minutes

Qiji Energy, CATL's swap business, added a 260# block rated at 432 kWh and a 300# block at 513 kWh alongside its existing 75# block. CATL says a swap takes five minutes, with a 99.99% first-time success rate. Reuters reports CATL saying the new standardized blocks reduce component numbers by 52% and lower costs by 15% from its existing products, and that the long-range version of its Tianxing II truck battery platform has a 760 kWh pack and a range of more than 600 km. The rest of the lineup covers ultra-light and ultra-thin packs mounted behind the cab and chassis-mounted packs for short-haul and long-haul work.

Billing changed too. Under Qiji's battery-as-a-service model, customers pay for the net energy charged rather than the energy discharged, so they keep the value of energy recovered through regenerative braking. CATL says that cuts per-kWh battery rental costs by up to 20% for users on basic plans.

CATL says agreements for 13,000 units were signed at the event, and CnEVPost reports orders for swap products from logistics companies including SF Holding and China Postal Express & Logistics. "The combination of the dual-electric range extension battery and QIJI battery swapping offers the best solution for electrifying heavy-duty trucks," said Jesse Yang, CEO of Qiji Energy.

Swapping against megawatt charging

The pitch is aimed squarely at fast charging. Gao Huan, chief technology officer for CATL's China passenger and commercial vehicle businesses, said swapping suits heavy trucks better than pursuing ever-faster charging, and that higher charging currents generate more heat and energy losses, particularly as truck packs get larger, according to Reuters. "For heavy trucks, battery swapping is the only solution for pursuing ultimate energy-replenishment efficiency," Gao said.

The US is building the other way. Pilot said on October 8 that it had opened its first Tesla Megacharger site, six stalls in Ellabell, Georgia, where Tesla says each stall can return 60% of a Semi's charge in 30 minutes; Pilot has likened a 30-minute session to a normal mandated driver break (Pilot's first Megacharger site).

Even CATL does not expect swapping to take the whole market. Wang Jingzhu, executive president of CATL's heavy-industry business unit, said at the launch that the contest between fuel and electric heavy trucks is over and an electric-versus-electric one is starting. He expects China's new-energy heavy trucks to reach 400,000 in 2027, split evenly at 200,000 each between swap and charging models, NBD reports.

The market behind that forecast has turned quickly. New-energy heavy trucks were 50% of China's heavy-truck segment in September 2026, up from 29% a year earlier, according to CnEVPost's account of China Passenger Car Association analysis of compulsory traffic insurance data. Globally, CATL said, heavy-truck electrification remains below 10%, per Reuters.

Targets, a stake and fleet deals

The 900-station figure is not new. In May 2025, when it launched the 75# block, CATL planned 300 heavy-truck swap stations in 13 core regions of China by the end of 2025, CnEVPost reported then, and electrive reported in August that the Qiji network had plans to expand to 900 stations. October's release restates 900 for the end of 2026 and gives no count of stations already in operation.

CATL has been buying network as well as building it. According to electrive, citing Car News China, CATL is acquiring a 24.87% stake for 2.56 billion yuan in Qiyuan Green Power, considered China's largest operator of battery-swapping networks for heavy trucks and part of the China Power arm of state-owned State Power Investment Corporation. Once the deal completes, CATL is expected to become Qiyuan's largest shareholder. Qiyuan's trucks carry the swappable battery at the rear of the truck rather than in the chassis, so the deal puts two swap formats under one investor.

Fleet customers have been signing up in blocks. On June 30, 2026, CATL agreed to supply J&T Express with swappable batteries, swap-station equipment, and operation and maintenance services for more than 5,000 heavy trucks, per CnEVPost. Swap networks are consolidating among passenger cars too: Geely has agreed to take 30% of NIO Power (Geely's NIO Power deal).