A new energy taxi, having completed a battery swap, drives out of the battery swap station on the Jianxin West Road in Jiangbei District, Chongqing, on January 10, 2025. (Photo by Li Yukun/Visual Chongqing)

Chongqing - On January 10, at the battery swap station on the Jianxin West Road in Jiangbei district, Chongqing,  taxi driver Xiang Chao drove his car into the battery swapping lane. The process—automatic alignment, lifting, removing the old battery, and installing a new one—was seamless, taking less than two minutes to complete.

"In the past, charging could take an hour or even more than two hours. But with the battery swap system for new energy vehicles, that’s no longer a problem," said Xiang.

Currently, more than 40 percent of Chongqing's taxis are powered by new energy. The city's taxi industry has rapidly accelerated its transition from fuel-powered vehicles to new energy cars, and the battery swap model has played a key role in this shift.

Facing charging hurdles

In 2019, the sales of new energy vehicles in China were on the rise, but very few cities had adopted NEVs for public transportation.

At that time, Chongqing, with strong NEV production capacity and supporting infrastructure, decided to take the lead by deploying 200 NEVs for a pilot demonstration in the urban area, focusing on taxi services. The company Xiang was working for, Taxi Division of Chongqing Automobile Transport (Group) Co Ltd, was one of the first to pilot NEV taxi operations that year.

"The government offered subsidies, significantly lowering the purchase cost, and electricity is cheaper than gasoline or natural gas, lowering electric vehicle operating costs. We were optimistic about these NEVs," recalled Zeng Yi, the company's deputy manager.

However, they overlooked a crucial issue—the time cost. At that time, charging NEVs still took a long time.

"For taxi drivers, time is money," Xiang explained. A taxi operating in two shifts typically traveled around 450 kilometers a day, but the NEVs' range at that time was only around 170 kilometers, not even enough for one shift's distance, he added.

"The time it took to charge the vehicle could have been used to complete several rides," said Xiang. Additionally, some cars experienced reduced range after just six months of use, and in winter, the battery life was even more limited, according to him.

Battery swap eases industry challenges

In Chongqing, a number of battery swap stations and new energy vehicles equipped for battery swapping appeared around 2020.

In September 2020, Changan Automobile's first battery swap station was completed at Chongqing Olympic Sports Center. Later that year, Geely Technology's smart battery swap station debuted at Lijia Smart Park, and in April 2021, Lifan Technology's first battery swap model rolled off the production line at Chongqing's Caijia production base.

Chongqing's battery swap market has been at the forefront of the country's development. By April 2021, there were 617 battery swap stations nationwide, 72 of which were in Chongqing.

With the infrastructure and production capabilities in place, more and more taxi companies began switching to new energy battery swap vehicles. "Starting in August 2021, our company began replacing the old fleet with Changan and Lifan new energy vehicles equipped for battery swapping," said Xiang. The swap process takes less than two minutes, addressing the slow charging issue of new energy vehicles.

Xiang was also impressed by the speed of the battery swap. "You don't need to leave the car; the entire process is automated. After scanning a QR code to pay, you can drive off and continue operating," he said, adding that with just one or two battery swaps a day, the total time spent swapping batteries is under five minutes.

A new energy taxi is undergoing a battery swap operation at the battery swap station on the Jianxin West Road in Jiangbei District, Chongqing, on January 10, 2025. (Photo/Li Yukun)

Moreover, thanks to the unified management of the battery swap stations, taxis can charge during off-peak electricity hours, making battery swaps affordable. Xiang did the math: the cost for a vehicle to run 200 kilometers a day with battery swaps is only about 70 yuan ($9.61).

Policy boots Chongqing's full electrification of public vehicles

In 2022, Chongqing introduced policies to support the battery swap industry, offering one-time construction subsidies for battery swap stations that operate shared services for multiple brands and models of taxis and ride-hailing vehicles.

In November 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and seven other departments issued a notice to launch pilot zones for the full electrification of public vehicles in 15 cities. Chongqing is one of these pilot cities, aiming to build a fully electrified public vehicle fleet in three years. Meanwhile, more battery swap stations are being established. By 2023, Chongqing had completed 141 battery swap stations.

With these favorable policies, the number of new energy taxis on Chongqing’s roads is rapidly increasing, and the number of those using battery swap models is also rising.

"Currently, over 87 percent of our company's taxis are new energy vehicles, and soon all of them will be replaced with battery swap models," said Zeng.

"A couple of years ago, we didn’t experience any congestion at the swap stations, but in the past year, the demand for battery swaps has noticeably increased, and sometimes the stations are crowded," Xiang added.

Industry experts predict that the domestic battery swap market will reach 60.5 billion yuan by 2025. And companies are racing to capture the market. At the end of last year, CATL's Choco-Swap stations landed in Chongqing, with plans to establish 57 stations in the region this year. Changan Automobile has also announced plans to build 10,000 battery swap stations nationwide to serve 10 million new energy vehicles.

(Qiu Xiaoya and Li Yukun, reporters from Chongqing Daily, contributed the Chinese version of this report.)