Financing Strategies for Electric Vehicle Battery Swapping Service Operators

The electric vehicle battery swapping mode is experiencing rapid development due to its fast energy replenishment advantages. However, battery swapping service providers face dual financial pressures from high battery asset costs and heavy investment in swapping station infrastructure, necessitating scientific and effective financing decisions. This paper examines the impact of three financing strategies - bank credit, trade credit, and financial leasing - on supply chain operational decisions in an electric vehicle battery swapping service supply chain composed of a battery-swapping service operator (BSO) and a battery manufacturer (BM). The results show that: 1) trade credit demonstrates cost advantages in most scenarios, while financial leasing enhances benefits through asset sharing in high battery premium situations, whereas bank credit is suboptimal due to cost disadvantages; 2) financial leasing exhibits the highest acceptance for the whole supply chain, followed by BM, while BSO is the most conservative; 3) BM should implement differentiated battery pricing strategies across financing models; 4) trade credit facilitates scale expansion, whereas financial leasing shows superior applicability in high-utilization scenarios like commercial fleets.