Recently, STO Express and CATL officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Ningde, Fujian. The two parties will carry out in-depth cooperation in areas including green logistics, vehicle electrification, charging and battery swapping infrastructure, and full lifecycle battery management, jointly promoting the low-carbon transformation and high-quality development of the express delivery industry.

In express trunk transportation, fuel costs represent one of the biggest pain points. CATL has worked with vehicle OEMs to deeply integrate STO's operational applications and conduct customized development in areas such as battery capacity, installation layout, and overall vehicle tare weight. Taking the 400-kilometer Shanghai–Ningbo route as an example, compared with traditional fuel-powered trucks at standard payload, the solution achieves an energy cost efficiency of RMB 0.8 per kilometer. Even when taking EV depreciation into account relative to fuel-powered vehicles, it still delivers a cost reduction of RMB 0.3–0.5 per kilometer.

In terms of charging and battery-swapping infrastructure, CATL directly addresses key pain points faced by electric heavy-duty trucks in trunk transportation, including range anxiety, low energy replenishment efficiency, and insufficient infrastructure coverage. At present, CATL has deployed more than 300 QIJI battery swap stations and plans to build over 900 stations nationwide by 2026. The layout of its QIJI battery swap stations closely aligns with the three major economic clusters where STO Express operates its new-energy heavy-duty truck fleet—the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta—enabling full-route energy replenishment support for STO Express'  trunk logistics operations.

Through this strategic cooperation, CATL and STO Express will fully leverage their respective resources and technological advantages to establish a benchmark for the integrated development of new energy and express logistics, driving the industry toward greener, smarter, and more efficient transformation.