Octopus Energy, the UK’s largest energy supplier, has teamed up with CATL, the world’s largest EV battery company, to bring China-style battery switching stations to Europe. The two said they want to spread the service network across the continent, with the aim of keeping electric trucks on the road for a long time. Each hub will be able to service thousands of trucks per day, replacing dead cells with new ones “in minutes.” Such a system would be even faster than filling a conventional truck with diesel, and it is much cheaper.
We’ve all heard EV boosters talk about battery swapping as an inevitable solution to a wide range of concerns, especially without showering your equipment with fast charging. In theory, you could just fall asleep at the station, dump your remaining cells and put in freshly charged ones, all in the time it takes to visit the bathroom. Of course, the reality wasn’t that simple: The high price of the batteries and the engineering required meant it never worked as well as they hoped, and Tesla abandoned the idea ten years ago.
But the system has more in Asia, with trucks able to drop and pick up new batteries in a matter of minutes. By 2025, CATL has partnered with Asian oil company Sinopec to roll out a large battery exchange network across China. There are even battery replacement services aimed at consumers, including those run by car manufacturer Nio and Taiwanese scooter company Gogoro, which have installed a large network of replacement stations.
Octopus and CATL, however, think it might be more effective in truck tailoring, and I’m tempted to agree. After all, if there’s one part of the global transportation ecosystem where EVs haven’t made sense yet, it’s the heavy industry. Large trucks and ships carrying equally large loads require more power to move, and batteries add more weight to the picture. Rocket equation: The heavier your load, the more power you need, and for EVs that means more batteries, increasing your weight even more. That is why this sector is likely to be won by hydrogen fuel cells, given the energy density and refueling times.
But when trucks use smaller batteries, and drivers are confident they can get a fully charged replacement for every leg of their journey, the equation starts to change. William Rowe, CEO of the Octopus / CATL joint venture, called Swaptopus, says the battery stations can charge their cells “if the grid needs it.” In fact, having a large volume of batteries that can sit idle will allow each hub to act as a small power plant. Of course, that may not please the transportation companies and the cell rental companies and they may have a problem with their cycle life used to grow the Octopus energy network.
Swaptopus says the UK’s first “mega hubs” will open in 2027, and it will be interesting to see how many major trucking companies sign up. After all, their purchasing decisions are made over a long period of time and often rely on ensuring that the infrastructure is in place to implement them. But given the weight of Octopus and CATL, you’d expect more than a few to put their lot into the new venture.
