‘It is much, much faster’: could China’s battery-swapping e-trucks be the answer to EV range anxiety?

Battery maker CATL aims to have 2,000 swapping stations in China by the end of 2027 and to bring the tech to Europe Every day, Wang Bing drives his big electric lorry to send around five tonnes of goods between the cities of Haikou and Dongfang on Hainan, a tropical island in southern China.

A round trip covers about 500 kilometres (310 miles). But refuelling is not something Wang worries about. “When my battery runs low, I…