CATL battery swap electric semi tech cleans up the “messy middle”
There’s a CATL battery in just about every EV you can name, so it’s safe to say they know a thing or two about electrifying mobility at scale. Now, they’ve turned their attention to heavy trucks – and their proposed universal battery swap solution for HDEVs could be just the thing to clean up that “messy middle.”
The culmination of the QIJI Energy project launched in June 2023, the goal was to advance the adoption of battery swap technology in the heavy truck segment. To that end, CATL revealed a new, standardized battery pack it’s calling “75#” at a special event help on yesterday (18MAY2025) in Datong, Shanxi province in northwest China.
The CATL subsidiary’s CEO, Yang Jun, says the company has been working behind the scenes with a dozen heavy truck, terminal tractor, and heavy equipment manufacturers to develop more than 30 battery swap-enabled electric vehicles capable of running on 75#.
Battery swap semi trucks are here
Once on the job, those vehicles will have access to 300 battery swap stations serving heavy trucks in 13 core regions in China by the end of 2025, and a battery swap network covering another 16 city clusters by 2030. And, because these CATL 73#-equipped HDEVs can still just “plug in” when a swap site is unavailable or time is less of a factor, those impressive numbers are providing options that are in addition to the growing international network of DC fast charging stations being deployed for heavy duty trucks and equipment assets.
CATL believes that the electric semi truck industry will experience explosive growth in the next three years. Robin Zeng, chairman and CEO of CATL, says they expect to see a 50% take rate for electrified trucks globally, with that growth fueled both by the growing appetite for zero-emission solutions and the ever-present push to reduce the cost of logistical operations.
No word yet on whether or not this kind of technology is coming to North America, but it looks like Europe and Australia are for sure on CATL’s to-do list.
Electrek’s Take
Whether we’re talking about NIO cars and SUVs, Gogoro two wheelers, or just about every Milwaukee and Makita power tool on the job sites you pass every day, battery swap technology is one of those things that just works. Despite the evidence of their own senses, however, there’s still a big contingent in the EV community that think they wants to “own” their batteries. But commercial fleet buyers are a different breed. In their world, if something makes cents it makes sense, and the uptime, efficiency, and peace of mind electric truckers could realize with a battery swap solution could make a whole lot of cents.
Ownership, in other words, might be an outdated concept. When it comes to batteries, that’s certainly my take. We’re curious to hear yours in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: QIJI Energy, via CN EV Post; Reuters.
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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