Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), the world’s largest battery manufacturer, and Shouqi Group, a state-owned mobility services enterprise, have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to integrate electrification and circular economy practices into China’s transport ecosystem.
The partnership covers multiple segments—automotive passenger transport, vehicle leasing, and mobility services—where Shouqi operates one of the country’s largest fleets. CATL will provide battery technology and work with Shouqi to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) while simultaneously addressing two pressing industry needs: charging infrastructure deployment and end-of-life battery management.
A notable component is the plan to establish waste battery recycling systems. This comes as China faces a steep rise in retired EV batteries, projected to exceed 2 million metric tons annually by 2030, according to China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC). By embedding recycling capacity within a major fleet operator’s ecosystem, CATL aims to safeguard supply of critical minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium while reducing environmental risks associated with improper disposal.
Battery Swapping and Operational Efficiency
The agreement also includes cooperation on battery swap networks, an area of growing interest in China’s mobility sector. Unlike conventional charging, swapping enables fleet operators to replace depleted batteries with fully charged units within minutes, reducing downtime for high-utilization vehicles such as taxis and ride-hailing fleets. Shouqi’s fleet composition—heavily concentrated in urban passenger transport—makes it a prime candidate for swap-based operational models, where uptime directly impacts profitability.
While battery swapping remains capital-intensive, with infrastructure costs higher than conventional fast charging, partnerships with large-scale operators offer a pathway to commercialization by ensuring consistent utilization rates. CATL has already invested in swap technologies through its EVOGO battery swap solution, and cooperation with Shouqi provides a testbed for scaling the model in commercial mobility services.
China’s national strategy to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060—the “dual carbon” targets—has put pressure on state-owned enterprises to demonstrate measurable progress. Shouqi’s adoption of electrification and recycling frameworks directly aligns with these objectives, while CATL’s involvement ensures technological and supply chain expertise.
However, the broader challenge lies in balancing rapid electrification with grid capacity and raw material constraints. By integrating recycling into fleet electrification plans, the partnership addresses part of the supply-side bottleneck, but the effectiveness of these measures will depend on execution speed and regulatory coordination.
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