(Yicai) June 23 -- Contemporary Amperex Technology and British energy supplier Octopus Energy Group plan to build more than 30 battery-swapping stations for heavy-duty trucks across Europe by 2035 through a newly formed joint venture, as the Chinese battery giant expands its truck battery-swapping business overseas.

The joint venture, named Swaptopus, expects to open its first demonstration battery-swapping stations in the United Kingdom next year. Each of the planned super stations will be capable of serving thousands of heavy trucks daily, according to separate statements released by Ningde-headquartered CATL and London-based Octopus yesterday.

Once fully operational, the network could support more than 300,000 electric trucks and attract over EUR30 billion (USD34.3 billion) of private investment, helping reduce Europe’s reliance on imported oil by replacing it with domestically generated green electricity, Octopus said.

The project marks the first overseas expansion of CATL’s Qiji Energy heavy-duty truck battery-swapping business and reflects growing efforts to accelerate the electrification of commercial freight transport in Europe.

"Electric trucks already beat diesel on running costs, the challenge is keeping them moving. Battery swapping changes that. Instead of waiting for hours, trucks can be back on the road in minutes,” said Greg Jackson, chief executive and founder of Octopus. “By combining Octopus’ software and energy expertise with CATL’s world-class battery technology, we’re making clean freight practical at scale across Europe."

“Battery swapping will be a significant part of the future of commercial transport. We have field-proven this technology in China, and we are delighted to bring it to the UK and Europe as part of our joint venture with Octopus,” said Robin Zeng, chairman and chief executive of CATL.

As the world’s largest power battery supplier, CATL launched Qiji Energy, its heavy-duty truck battery-swapping service brand, in 2023. By the end of last year, the company had established more than 300 battery-swapping stations in China.

CATL also operates Choco-Swap, a battery-swapping service brand for passenger vehicles. As of May, it had built 1,650 battery-swapping stations across 127 cities and plans to expand the network to more than 3,000 stations in 190 cities by the end of this year, the company said.

Founded in 2015, Octopus Energy started as a smart-grid technology company and has grown into the UK’s largest electricity supplier. As of last October, it served 10 million retail customers, operated in 27 countries, and managed renewable energy assets worth EUR7 billion (USD8 billion), according to its website.

Editor: Emmi Laine