Beijing (ZXZC)- FAW Group’s mainstay brand, Hongqi, has deepened its partnership with China’s largest battery-swapping service provider, Aulton, the automaker announced on February 18th.

E-QM5; photo credit: Hongqi

The two parties exchanged plans for their collaborative battery swap project, which started in November 2021 in Changchun city, Jilin Province. Hongqi and Aulton wish to expand their battery swap station network to the whole Jilin Province and eventually nationwide.  

According to the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, at the end of the first month of 2022, there are 1,386 battery swap stations nationwide, 88 of which were built in January.

By February this year, Aulton has laid out over 600 battery-swapping stations in 26 cities in the country and expanding. In the city of Changchun, where Hongqi is headquartered, Aulton has set up 42 battery swap stations (including those under construction), providing an optimized re-charging experience for Hongqi’s E-QM5 battery-swappable model.

Aulton plans to establish a battery swap network over 120 stations in Changchun in three phases, accommodating the needs of 8,000 new energy vehicles. The Changchun network will then become the largest battery swap network in the severe cold weather area in China.

The automaker disclosed that on top of the battery-swap project, Hongqi and Aulton’s cooperation might also branch out to battery banks and automotive user ecosystem construction in the future.  

By the end of 2022, FAW Hongqi and Aulton will diversify their business ecosystem by introducing battery swap services to governmental cars, commercial-use cars, and private cars.