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Battery Replacement Solution for Buses
2025-12-29
Driven by urbanisation and the dual carbon strategy, new energy buses have become the dominant force in China's public transport system.
However, as the first batch of vehicles gradually enter the degradation phase of their power batteries, bus operations now face a 'battery siege' dilemma characterised by escalating safety risks, declining operational efficiency, and soaring maintenance costs. How to inject enduring, secure, and efficient 'new momentum' into this green artery has become a core challenge demanding urgent resolution across the entire industry.
01 Industry Imperative: The Bus Battery Swapping Market is Poised for Explosive Growth
Data indicates that China's stock of new energy buses has surged from 37,700 units in 2014 to 554,400 units in 2023, accounting for over 95% of the total bus fleet.
Calculated on the basis of an average eight-year service life for public transport vehicles, a significant number of vehicles have now reached the replacement window for their power batteries, with the core pain points becoming increasingly apparent.
Safety alert: According to authoritative statistics, over 1,730 fire incidents involving new energy vehicles occurred between 2018 and 2024, with thermal runaway risks from ageing batteries being one of the primary contributing factors.
Performance degradation and battery capacity decline have resulted in a significant reduction in vehicle range, rendering it inadequate for long-distance and high-frequency operations. This necessitates either increasing the fleet size or adjusting service schedules, thereby disrupting operational rhythms.
High costs, declining efficiency of ageing batteries, increased energy consumption per kilometre, and prolonged charging times directly inflate operational expenses and reduce fleet turnover efficiency.
Since 2023, Frey has actively responded to the national call for equipment renewal and new energy transition, successfully rolling out its bus battery replacement solution across the national market.
To date, we have provided services to Zouping Public Transport, Shangqiu Public Transport, Jinan Changyun, Zaozhuang Transport, Ma'anshan Changyun, Yichun Bus, Zaodong Bus, Nanyang Bus, Harbin Shengjinlong Passenger Transport, Guigang Bus, Luyi Bus, Daqing Travel Coach, Shangqiu Coach Transport, and Mianchi Bus.
This large-scale implementation has fully demonstrated the solution's universality and reliability across diverse geographical locations and operational environments.
02 Frey Solution: Dual-track Approach, Precision Breakthrough
Battery degradation not only poses safety hazards but also leads to a sharp reduction in vehicle range, increased energy consumption, and slower charging speeds, severely hampering the efficient operation of bus routes.
Frey's bus battery replacement solution addresses industry pain points:
Meanwhile, national policies have continued to intensify, with the 2024 introduction of both the Action Plan for Promoting Large-Scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Replacement and the Implementation Rules for Subsidies on New Energy Vehicles and Power Battery Replacement, providing robust support for the bus battery swapping industry.
For the substantial existing bus fleet market, Frey has innovatively proposed a dual-track technical approach combining "standardised rapid replacement kits" with "customised in-depth adaptation kits", ensuring the optimal solution balancing cost-effectiveness and compatibility.
Nine core technologies underpin customisation:
From non-destructive structural adaptation and full electrical parameter matching to protocol reverse engineering, alongside rapid installation design, dual-cycle verification and multi-brand cell compatibility, Frey has established a comprehensive technical framework ensuring the secure, reliable and efficient implementation of bespoke solutions.
03 Core Value: More than just replacement, it's a systematic upgrade.
Frey has also established a quality management system spanning the entire value chain from R&D through production to delivery. This system implements international standards such as ISO 26262 and CMMI, incorporating tools like APQP and FMEA to ensure closed-loop design processes.
From the rigorous PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) procedure to comprehensive pre-dispatch inspections (including charge/discharge performance, dimensional consistency, airtightness, and waterproof rating), we ensure the high safety and reliability of every battery pack.
More fundamentally, Frey provides full lifecycle management for swappable batteries through its Battery Health Management Monitoring System (BHMS).
This platform integrates AI-powered strategies to deliver security alerts, charge/discharge management, and aggregated site management capabilities. It transforms batteries from mere hardware assets into monitorable, predictable, and dispatchable digital assets, thereby empowering intelligent bus operations.
04 Empirical Case Studies: Bridging the Gap from Theory to Practice
A bus company's fleet of 8.5-metre vehicles, whose original batteries had been in service for seven years, had experienced range degradation to less than 100 kilometres. This rendered them incapable of fulfilling daily route requirements, while also exhibiting severe overheating during charging in summer.
Frey adopted a "standard battery replacement" solution, upgrading the original 2P180S system to high-capacity cells of identical structure. This increased the system capacity from 99kWh to 121kWh. The range has been steadily extended from under 100 kilometres to over 140 kilometres, boosting the vehicle's average daily operational duration by 18% without requiring mid-journey top-ups. The comprehensive energy consumption per 100 kilometres decreased by 12%. Through real-time monitoring by the new Battery Management System (BMS), overheating alerts during charging have ceased to occur.
05 Conclusion: Battery swapping is not merely the end point, but a new beginning.
The systematic replacement of bus power batteries is by no means a mere 'old-for-new' exchange, but rather a strategic upgrade of the entire bus operation system. It represents both the culmination of efforts to resolve current safety and efficiency bottlenecks, and a new starting point for bus companies to advance towards refined,digitalised, and low-carbon operations.
Drawing upon over a decade of design and manufacturing expertise honed in the demanding conditions of mining lithium-ion batteries, Frey has deeply integrated safety-critical engineering principles and systematic thinking into its bus battery swapping operations for public transport.
We are committed to delivering comprehensive solutions that encompass system-wide approaches, encompassing all relevant technologies and adhering to high-quality safety standards, thereby providing a robust and reliable power foundation for the green transition of public transport.
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