To test the waters, in 2024 Yadea began a pilot programme with 150,000 food delivery couriers working in Shenzhen, a mega city of 17.8 million people in southern China, reported
. The goal was to enable them to hand in a spent Yadea sodium-ion batteries at its partners' battery-swapping stations in exchange for a fully charged one within 30 seconds,
.
Yadea and other companies, such as battery-swapping firm Dudu Huandian, have grown so rapidly in Shenzhen the city now
a "
". It aims to install 20,000 charging or swapping pods for various types of batteries for electric scooters in 2025, and 50,000 by 2027, according to
, a trade body that is
the Shenzhen government to promote battery swapping. The city – which already has a "
" – will build a vast network of battery swapping facilities to enable residents to find a station every five minutes,
.
Yadea is not alone in its sodium push. Another Chinese scooter manufacturer, Tailg,
. FinDreams, the battery arm of EV major BYD, is building a plant in east China's Xuzhou to make sodium batteries in partnership with Huaihai Group, a manufacturer of two and three-wheelers, according to
.
Although lead-acid batteries will continue to dominate this industry, the market share of sodium-ion batteries
rapidly over the next five years. By 2030, 15% of China's electric scooters will be powered by them, compared to 0.04% in 2023, according to an
by the Shenzhen-based Starting Point Research Institute, which assesses China's battery industry.
