By ZHUANG Jian

Battery maker CATL has launched its battery-swapping scheme EVOGO on January 18.

Comprised of batteries, swap stations and an app, EVOGO will operate in 10 cities, said CHEN Weifeng of CATL subsidiary CAES.

Each battery block provides a driving range of 200 kilometers and a swap station will house 48 batteries which take only one minute to recharge for each, CAES said. 

At the end of 2021, China had 1,300 battery swap stations, more than double the number at the beginning of the year. Nio owns more than half of them and plans to build 600 new stations this year. Battery-swapping company Aulton owns 400 stations and is aiming for 10,000 by 2025.

CATL's full-year power battery installation in China's EV market in 2021 was 80.51 GWh, capturing 52.1 percent of the market.