CATL and DHL Group have signed a memorandum of understanding that widens their existing partnership, with the stated aim of pushing European road freight toward electrification. Rather than scattered pilot schemes, the battery maker and the logistics group want to build a "repeatable methodology" that ties real freight demand to energy technology.
The framework sets out four workstreams: mapping green corridors for electrified trucking routes, bringing vehicle manufacturers on board, deploying both stationary and mobile charging hardware, and running battery-swap trials for heavy-duty trucks.
A wider ecosystem sits behind the deal. Quibo Energy, an energy-infrastructure firm backed by CATL and Xiaomi, contributes mobile power-station technology; FleetBoost supplies high-power charging-plus-storage units built around CATL cells; and Swaptopus, a joint venture between CATL and Octopus Energy, is tasked with building an electric-truck battery-swap network across Europe.
Akin Li, executive president of CATL's overseas business, argued that freight electrification only works when logistics demand is combined with vehicles, charging, energy storage, swapping and lifecycle services. For DHL, the arrangement feeds directly into its pledge to reach net-zero logistics-related emissions by 2050.