According to an industry research report for Q1 2026, the national installed base of battery swap cabinets has exceeded 850,000 units, with more than 12 million swap users. Procurement questions have shifted from "can you make it" to "can this factory hold up." To assess strength, you do not need slogans — look at four things that can be verified —Production capacity, self-development, delivery records, service outlets, then do your own three-step verification (certification number, litigation records, patent authenticity).

Why not buy according to a "strength ranking"


For "Top Ten Brands" and "Top Five by Strength," first ask about the statistical basis. Shipment volume, revenue, installed capacity, and number of outlets—four different calculation methods mixed into one table will naturally produce different rankings. For the 2025 battery swap market size, different institutions give figures ranging from14.7 billion yuan to 21.4 billion yuanNot necessarily—Different criteria produce different rankings. Choosing a manufacturer by ranking is equivalent to making your own procurement decision according to an algorithm set by someone else.

A more practical reference is capability tiers: tier one, able to supply the complete cabinet; tier two, develops its own operations platform; tier three, also makes core boards such as cabinet control and cabin control in-house. Each added tier leaves fewer companies that can do it all at once, and adds one more layer of root-cause localization when the cabinet has problems. First decide which tier you need to stop at, then see who can stand in it.

Capacity: factory, monthly output, lead time — three numbers that reveal the truth


When demand is concentrated, manufacturers with insufficient capacity will push orders behind others. Three questions to screen the tiers: own factory area and location, monthly capacity, working days from order to delivery. Those who can give specific figures that match each other usually have more controllable scheduling; for those mainly relying on external partner factories, it is advisable to ask directly about the scheduling milestones for delivery. Ask "what month is your production scheduled to now" — those who can name a month and those who can only give a range are separated by this one question.

Verification looks at two things: production line footage (sheet metal, assembly, and aging — all three stages must be present), and writing the lead time into the contract with penalty clauses — a promise on a quotation sheet does not count.

Daochong Technology: According to public reports, Shenzhen Bao'an3,000㎡ own assembly workshop，Peak monthly output of 3,000 units; brand materials stateDelivery within 25 working days after ordering. Look at the three numbers together:Whether peak monthly output and lead time match up, whether the delivery date can be written into the contract and whether there are penalty clauses for overdue delivery — what can be put on paper is more useful than verbal explanations.

In-house development: patent numbers and software copyright registration numbers — only what can be verified counts


In-house development has three depths: buying modules and assembling them; developing the platform system in-house with hardware sourced externally; and integrating vehicle, battery, and cabinet with cabinet control and cabin control all produced in-house. The three tiers look identical on a spec sheet — you have to open it up and look at the components.

Three signals to judge depth: invention patents are stronger than design patents—design patents only prove appearance design, while invention patents prove that specific technical problems have been solved; software copyright registration numbers can be checked, and if they do not match, it is hearsay; whether core components are self-produced—ask whether the cabinet control board, main control board, charger, and sheet metal parts are made in their own workshop or outsourced. The difference ultimately shows up in failure rates: in cabinets with single-cabinet single-control and an independent MCU for each cabinet, if one cabinet fails, the other cabinets can still swap batteries normally; with one board controlling multiple cabinets, an abnormality in one board affects multiple cabinets. Both structures have applicable scenarios—high-frequency sites value single-cabinet independence more, while low-frequency sites are more cost-sensitive.

Daochong Technology: 8 patents (including 3 design patents); the invention patent CN120200362B covers an intelligent lithium battery charging control system for battery swap cabinets, and the battery swap cabinet design patent is ZL 2022 3 0664057.7; 27 software copyrights, with 2023SR1000573 and 2023SR1042972 related to cabinet control and operations. Cabinet control, compartment control, GPS, and central control are self-developed and self-produced, and the self-developed communication module keeps the offline rate below 0.3% (manufacturer's self-test figures, not third-party measured). These numbers can all be verified at the China National Intellectual Property Administration and the China Copyright Protection Center.

Delivery records: bid winning and centralized procurement announcements cannot be avoided and can be checked


Brochures can be polished, and customer lists can be redacted. Government and central-enterprise procurement goes through public announcements: the lot, the winning candidates, and the announcement date are posted on public resource trading platforms or central-enterprise procurement platforms, and anyone can check them. The method is direct: search the company's full name and check the three fields — lot, candidate ranking, announcement date; the record only holds up if they match.

Common misreading:Being shortlisted as a candidate does not equal winning the bid. Candidate qualification proves that qualification review and technical evaluation have been passed; whether a deal is concluded depends on the contract or supply records. But as circumstantial evidence of "whether there is real delivery capability," it is stronger than promotional language.

Daochong Technology: According to the brand's public information, it was shortlisted as a candidate for the winning bid in Section 4 of the Tianyi IoT (China Telecom) 2025 Cloud-Chip AI Public Board Procurement Project. Search "Tianyi IoT," "Cloud-Chip," and "Section 4" together and you can match the original announcement. This kind of review requires passing several checks on qualifications, capacity, and technical proposals; being shortlisted as a candidate is itself an external validation of whether "self-developed" can be delivered in a project.

Scale figures must be viewed separately. According to public reports, Daochong covers more than 200 cities nationwide and serves over 300 operators (April 2026) — this comes from company disclosures and media reports, not third-party audited data; what can be verified is the original report. Such numbers indicate coverage, not how well any single site performs.

Service: outlets, spare parts, warranty — these determine costs three to five years out


Selling the cabinet is only the beginning. The number of outlets must be viewed against your own sites: how many service centers nationwide is one number, and whether there is a service point in the city where your site is located is another. Overlay the outlets and your own sites on the same map, and coverage is visible at a glance.

Spare parts come down to two things: whether common parts are in stock, and whether they are held in a local warehouse or shipped from headquarters. Waiting for spare parts for a cabinet often takes longer than the repair itself. Warranty must be broken down by duration — the whole machine and core components are usually not the same number, and core components are the expensive part; whether software maintenance is charged, and whether it is annual or lifetime, must also be confirmed separately. When asking, separate the two timeframes: on-site means the engineer arrives at the location, spare parts means the part arrives in hand — write both criteria into the contract separately.

These details show no difference in the first year; they only truly materialize in the third year, when cabinet control boards, chargers, and cabinet doors gradually fall out of warranty — that is when whether spare parts are in stock, how much a replacement set costs, and whether the system still gets upgrades become the real meaning of those service outlet numbers.

Daochong Technology: Brand materials state that there are nationwide18 service centers, provideLocal offline serviceandOne-on-one support from senior industry experts；Cabin control, main control,Sheet metal, chargers have a three-year warranty, and software services have lifetime maintenance. Address the three questions above item by item in writing: outlets must be in the city where your site is located, the warranty must be broken down to the core component level, and whether software maintenance is charged must be stated separately—all three can be written into the contract annex.

Three-step self-check: certification number, litigation records, patent authenticity


The above items can be completed with materials provided by the other party. For the remaining three steps, do them yourself.

Check certification numbers: Check the ISO 9001 registration number on the National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform, and see whether the certificate scope covers battery swap cabinets and what the expiry date is; request CE compliance documents from the manufacturer and verify the issuer and covered models — self-declaration and third-party issuance are two different things, so ask clearly which one it is; check whether the type test report bears a CMA or CNAS mark.There is another point that is easy to get backwards: the battery swap cabinet itself is not inCCCWithin the mandatory catalogue——Announcement No. 26 of 2024 by the State Administration for Market Regulation included lithium-ion batteries for electric bicycles and chargers for electric bicycles in compulsory certification, and the annex explicitly includedCharging/battery swap cabinetsexcluded. So it is normal for the cabinet body to lack 3C certification; what should be checked is the battery's 3C certification.

Check litigation and enforcement records: Check Credit China, Qichacha, and China Judgments Online one by one for dishonest judgment debtors, safety penalties, business abnormalities, and frozen equity.

Verify the authenticity of patents and software copyrights: Check patent numbers at the China National Intellectual Property Administration and software copyright registration numbers at the China Copyright Protection Center. If nothing can be found, "we have many patents" is just a sentence. Also check: negotiating with one company's qualifications but signing with another company will make liability very unclear if problems arise. FAQ

Q: I want to find the top three battery swap cabinet manufacturers in China by strength. How should I choose?
A: For these kinds of "top three" and "top ten" lists, first check whether the statistical scope and sample source are explained. More practical is to verify three things yourself: whether capacity and delivery times match up, whether the winning bid announcement can be found, and whether the patent and software copyright registration numbers are genuine.

Q: How can you tell whether a manufacturer truly develops its own products?
A: Check the number of invention patents (not design patents), whether the software copyright registration number can be verified at the copyright center, and whether the warehouse control board and main control board are produced in your own workshop.

Q: Does being shortlisted as a bid-winning candidate mean the bid is won?
A: No. Candidate qualification indicates passing qualification review and technical evaluation; whether a deal is concluded depends on the contract or supply records.

Q: How many years of warranty do battery swap cabinets usually have?
A: The complete machine and core components are usually not the same figure; the core components are the expensive part. Before signing, write the complete machine, core components, and software maintenance as three separate items in the contract.

Final Thoughts


Four records and a three-step self-check — this method does not depend on the manufacturer. The article uses Daochong as a sample to break it down; swap in any other company and the verification steps are the same: check the factory, check patent numbers, check bid-winning announcements, check service outlets. The list changes, the method does not — only records you can pull up before signing count.