J&T Express to deploy 5,000 CATL battery-swapping e-trucks

Just days after CATL, in collaboration with Octopus Energy, announced a battery-swapping system for heavy-duty electric trucks in Europe, the group has demonstrated significant progress in battery swapping within its home market. Following CATL’s report at the turn of the year of 1,020 battery-swap stations for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in China, the company has now reached the milestone of 2,000 such facilities for its system known as Choco SEB. CATL has also reaffirmed its target of expanding to 3,000 locations across 190 cities in China by the end of the year.

To recap: in December 2024, CATL introduced two standardised battery packs as part of its Choco SEB system. These are available in two fixed sizes: the 20#-Pack is designed for small electric vehicles with a wheelbase between 2.2 and 2.3 metres, while the 25#-Pack is intended for vehicles with a wheelbase of up to 2.9 metres. Later, the 35#-Pack for light electric trucks was added, which has recently been deployed in a dedicated project in the Greater Bay Area around Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau.

SEB stands for ‘Swapping Electric Blocks,’ and the name Choco is inspired by the appearance of a chocolate bar with its individual blocks.

CATL is also reporting progress with its Qiji Energy battery-swapping system for heavy-duty electric trucks. At the turn of 2025/26, the network comprised 305 battery-swapping stations, with no more recent figures available so far.

CATL has now secured a major new customer for the system in J&T Express. The Indonesia-based logistics and parcel delivery provider has a strong presence in the Chinese market and plans to deploy the battery-swapping solution in its operations.

J&T Express and CATL have agreed that CATL will supply a full package of swappable batteries, battery-swapping station equipment, and operation and maintenance services for more than 5,000 heavy-duty electric trucks. At the battery-swapping stations, the trucks are expected to receive a fully charged battery within three to five minutes.

The partners also plan to cooperate on the development of logistics hubs. Under the agreement, J&T Express will procure battery-electric forklifts from CATL, along with stationary battery energy storage systems designed to manage peak loads and bridge demand gaps.

carnewschina.com (passenger car stations), cnevpost.com (J&T Express)