When a big rig hauls goods across Europe, the driver has to stop and wait while the truck battery recharges — a process that can take an hour or more. But what if drivers could simply swap the whole battery pack for a fresh one, the way a remote-controlled toy swaps batteries? A new partnership between two energy giants aims to make that a reality across the continent.
Swaptopus is a joint venture between Octopus Energy, a British company that supplies electricity to millions of homes and runs software to manage power grids, and CATL, the world's largest electric-vehicle battery maker with 39.2% of the global market. Together, they plan to build automated hubs where truck drivers can exchange depleted battery packs for fully charged ones in minutes, rather than waiting by a charger.
The first Swaptopus hubs will open in the UK in 2027, with more than 30 stations planned across Europe by 2035. The companies say the network could eventually support more than 300,000 trucks and attract over £30 billion in private investment.
CATL already runs a similar system in China called Qiji. That platform uses standardized battery blocks — CATL calls them 75# blocks — that are designed to fit into truck chassis the same way regardless of the truck brand. The company has not publicly disclosed the exact energy capacity of each block, though Octopus has mentioned swapping batteries of roughly 500 kilowatt-hours, which is enough to power a small home for more than two weeks. The idea is that if every truck uses the same battery format, swapping stations can keep a stock of charged packs ready at locations along major freight routes.
This matters because trucks running fixed routes between ports, factories, and distribution centers are a natural fit for battery swapping. Unlike passenger cars, which stop unpredictably, freight trucks follow the same paths over and over. That predictability means swap stations can be placed exactly where drivers already need to pause, turning a brief rest stop into a full battery exchange.
China offers a glimpse of what this could look like at scale. Its national plan for 2030 targets 40% of new heavy-truck sales to be electric, with a stock of more than 1.6 million electric trucks, roughly 3,000 swapping and charging stations, and 30,000 kilometers of zero-carbon freight corridors.
Europe's charging rules are moving faster than the infrastructure to support them, which makes Swaptopus's entry into the market timely. If the hubs prove reliable and convenient, they could help truck operators make the switch to electric without disrupting the tight schedules that keep goods moving across the continent.