Shanghai (ZXZC)- Aulton, a leading Chinese battery swapping technology developer, forged a strategic partnership with Chinese EV maker ZEDRIV on April 13 to jointly develop battery swappable EV models.

ZEDRIV expects to improve its product competitiveness and afford users with greater experience of energy supply through the collaboration with Aulton, said Mao Qunwei, senior executive vice president of ZEDRIV. Besides, the carmaker wishes to make its target user group extend to the fields like taxi and ride-hailing services by promoting battery swapping business model, he added.

ZEDRIV, Aulton signing agreemnt; photo credit: Aulton

Founded in 2017 and affiliated to the state-owned Sinomach Automobile Co.,Ltd, ZEDRIV is dedicated to the research, development, manufacturing, sales and services of new energy vehicles (NEVs). It currently has three NEV models for sales, namely the GC2, the GX5 and the GC1, which are mainly sold to private users.

At the forefront of Chinese battery swapping industry, Aulton has to-day deployed nearly 300 battery swapping stations across over 20 cities in the country, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Hainan, Xiamen, Kunming, Lanzhou and Changchun.

Prior to the cooperation with ZEDRIV, Aulton has built tie-ups with quite a few automakers, such as BAIC Group, FAW Group, GAC Group, Changan Automobile and Dongfeng Motor.

According to the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA), Aulton had possessed 286 battery swapping stations by the end of December 2020, accounting for 51.5% of the country's total number.

Under the five-year (2021-2025) development planning, Aulton aims to operate a total of 5,000 battery swapping stations in 100 cities and serve up to 2 million battery swappable vehicles by 2025.