Arcfox Goes Battery Swapping with the Help of CATL

BAIC Group's EV startup Arcfox has partnered with CATL to incorporate battery swapping into its upcoming entry-level model, the Arcfox Beta T1, which starts at 62,800 yuan ($9,310) and offers a driving range of 350 km (217 miles) or up to 450 km (280 miles). The vehicle, revealed in China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology filings, will use LFP batteries and benefit from CATL's 2,000 Choco swap stations across 180 cities, reducing upfront costs for buyers through battery leasing.

Arcfox Goes Battery Swapping with the Help of CATL Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription https://cleantechnica.substack.com/subscribe , on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cleantechnica , or on Stripe https://cleantechnica.fundjournalism.org/contribute/ . Help us produce all of the high-quality, original content we publish week after week https://cleantechnica.com/2026/07/14/10/ despite the challenges of content-scraping AI, antisocial media, inflation, and other hurdles.Little BAIC Group EV startup Arcfox has gone an interesting route. Naturally, when we think of EV battery swapping, we typically think of NIO, which has far and away been the battery swapping leader in the industry. However, the world’s biggest battery producer, CATL, has also gotten into the battery swapping game relatively recently. That’s who Arcfox has partnered with to incorporate battery swapping into a coming model. The Arcfox Beta T1 is a small, entry-level EV, but it will including battery swapping. It was one of the models revealed in the huge swarm of new EV filings released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology MIIT last week. One of the biggest benefits of a car coming with a battery swapping option is the full, long-term cost of a battery is not put on the buyer by default from day one. Instead, the upfront capital cost of the car is on the buyer, but then the battery is just rented/leased for as many years as the person has the car. As a small, entry-level model, that will surely help it compete. The batteries that will be swapped in and out of the car are LFP lithium iron phosphate batteries. Here’s the big shebang: the entry level cost of the Arcfox Beta T1 is 62,800 yuan $9,310 . The car has a driving range of 350 km 217 miles , or up to 450 km 280 miles , on a full charge. However, a longer range version many be coming later in the year. But, hey, wait — how much battery swapping infrastructure does CATL actually have in place at this point? It’s no NIO after all. The company has built 2,000 Choco swap stations, which are located in 180 cities. Will the Arcfox Beta T1 be a hit? If I’m being honest, I have no idea. It’s hard to know how people will respond to battery swapping models targeting to areas of the market. I could see the Arcfox Beta T1 being a huge hit, but I could also imagine it being a dud…. We will have to wait to see what ends up being closer to the truth. Sign up for CleanTechnica's Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott's in-depth analyses and high level summaries https://cleantechnica.substack.com/subscribe , sign up for our daily newsletter https://mailchi.mp/cleantechnica/daily-newsletter , and follow us on Google News https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqLQgKIidDQklTRndnTWFoTUtFV05zWldGdWRHVmphRzVwWTJFdVkyOXRLQUFQAQ Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here https://cleantechnica.com/contact/ . Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day https://mailchi.mp/cleantechnica/daily-newsletter . Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week https://mailchi.mp/cleantechnica/weekly-newsletter if daily is too frequent. CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here https://cleantechnica.com/cleantechnica-editorial-ethics/ . CleanTechnica's Comment Policy https://cleantechnica.com/cleantechnica-comment-policy/