Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) has unveiled its Tianxing II "electric-electric range extender" solution for heavy trucks, a battery-swap ecosystem that splits the underbody swap system into two independent, functionally complementary battery systems to lift performance, efficiency and flexibility. The product entered mass production at launch, with the first batch of agreements covering 13,000 units.
The Tianxing II "4+1" series spans an ultra-light version, an ultra-thin version, underbody configurations and the electric-electric range-extender edition. The range-extender variant pairs a 432/513 kWh underbody main-drive battery with a 77 kWh rear-mounted range-extender battery. CATL argues that the electric-electric range-extender plus its Qiji swap network is the best answer to heavy-truck electrification.
On the infrastructure side, CATL plans to complete 900 heavy-truck swap stations by year-end, 2,000 next year and a terminal target of 10,000, so that electric heavy trucks can become the mainstream of China's trunk logistics. The company says the model lets trucks swap in roughly 99 seconds in a fully autonomous loop.
The launch positions battery swapping as a core pillar of commercial-vehicle electrification rather than a passenger-car niche.
Source: Blue Whale Auto / Cailian Press
