# ‘It is much, much faster’: could China’s battery-swapping e-trucks be the answer to EV range anxiety?

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/it-is-much-much-faster-could-chinas-battery-swapping-e-trucks-be-the-answer-to-ev-range-anxiety/
- Published: 2026-11-12T14:00:42+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-12T14:24:37+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/nov/12/china-battery-swapping-e-trucks-catl-ev-range-anxiety
- Topics: Asia, Business, Europe, Health, Mental Health, World

## Key points

- CATL plans 2,000 Chinese swapping stations by the end of 2027.
- A battery change takes about five minutes.
- Renting batteries can lower purchase costs and ease grid pressure.

## Summary

Chinese battery maker CATL is expanding battery-swapping services for electric lorries, aiming for 2,000 stations in China by the end of 2027 and plans to bring the technology to Europe. The system replaces a depleted battery in minutes, addressing a major drawback of electric trucks and potentially making them cheaper to buy and operate.

Hainan lorry driver Wang Bing says swapping takes about five minutes, compared with around 90 minutes to charge his previous truck. He estimates electricity costs about 1.1 yuan per kilometre, against more than 2 yuan for diesel, saving him over 20,000 yuan a month. Customers can buy trucks without batteries and rent them instead; batteries make up about 40% of an electric truck’s price. Stations may also help balance power demand by charging batteries at quieter times and returning stored electricity to the grid.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.