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Companies team up for battery swapping venture

SAIC announced on Thursday that it has jointly established a battery swapping company with oil giants Sinopec and PetroChina, battery giant CATL and Shanghai International Automobile City. With a registered capital of 4 billion yuan ($564 million), the new company, named Shanghai Jieneng Zhidian New Energy Technology, will regard the battery rental business as its core. It will also carry out R&D and promote battery swapping technology, battery operation management and big data services. SAIC's Rising Auto, Roewe, MG, Maxus and other brands will launch models capable of battery swapping, covering SUVs, sedans, MPVs and commercial vehicles. Rising Auto's R7 SUV will become the group's first model to use the technology.

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