Huawei's Yinwang Joins CATL's Choco Swap Network at 2,520 Stations

By Grace Kim

CATL has built 2,520 battery swap stations across 200 Chinese cities as of September 29 — and now Huawei's car unit wants in. The battery giant said Monday that Yinwang (also marketed as Newcool), Huawei's intelligent automotive business, has joined its Choco battery swap ecosystem under a three-party strategic cooperation framework agreement.

The third signatory is Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology, or CAES, the unit that runs CATL's swap business. CATL disclosed the deal in a statement; executives Robin Zeng, CATL's chairman and CEO, Jin Yuzhi, Huawei senior vice president and Newcool CEO, and Yang Jun, co-president of CATL's marketing system, attended the signing.

What does the deal actually cover?

Two things: vehicle compatibility and network integration. Vehicles running Huawei Qiankun intelligent automotive solutions — Huawei's supplier-grade stack of smart driving and cockpit technology sold to multiple automakers — would become compatible with the Choco swap network. The parties also plan joint work on swappable batteries and station networks.

The deeper ambition is data integration. The three companies want to link vehicles, swap stations and the cloud, using real-time battery status and user travel patterns to predict energy needs and pre-schedule swaps. In the system they describe, a car would decide on its own when it needs energy, locate a station, drive in, align itself, complete a fully automated 99-second swap and leave.

That's a claim, not a shipping feature. The announcement did not name specific vehicle models, a service launch date or initial coverage areas. Treat the 99-second automated swap as a stated design target until production data says otherwise.

Nio (NYSE: NIO) already offers comparable functionality at some of its swap stations, where vehicles enter automatically and swap batteries using navigation-assisted driving. Huawei and CATL are chasing a capability that exists in the market, not inventing one.

Why CATL needs Huawei

For CATL, Newcool's participation opens a new route to vehicle partnerships for Choco as the station footprint extends from cities to highways. Qiankun is a tier-one-style solution sold across several brands, so one integration agreement can, in theory, reach many nameplates at once.

The network math is aggressive. Beyond the 2,520 stations standing today, CATL's long-term goal is 30,000 stations. Previously announced plans call for 1,000 highway swap stations built in 2026 and 2027, forming a nationwide network across 11 north-south and 9 east-west highway corridors.

What to watch next

Three markers will tell you whether this is real. First, the first named Qiankun-equipped model with Choco compatibility — none exists yet. Second, the pace of the 2026-2027 highway station buildout, which CAES must fund and execute. Third, whether a demonstrated automated swap, start to finish without driver input, appears at a live station rather than in a statement.

Until then, this is a framework agreement: binding on intentions, silent on timing.