Betting on "Driverless + Unmanned Battery Swapping", Bolei Technology Completes Strategic Financing of Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Series B2 | Exclusive Report by 36Kr

36Kr learned that Bolei Technology, an enterprise specializing in electric unmanned driving for open-pit mines, recently completed a Series B2 financing round worth hundreds of millions of yuan. This round of financing was jointly led by Shuimu Assets, Jiuzhi Capital, and Daosheng Capital, with participation from existing shareholders. The funds will be used for the development of large-tonnage unmanned mining trucks with integrated charging and battery swapping functions, the construction of a mining truck manufacturing center, and the expansion of overseas markets.

Founded in 2015, Bolei Technology initially focused on the low-altitude economy and entered the field of unmanned driving in mining areas in 2018. After years of in-depth development in the field of unmanned driving in mining areas, Bolei Technology's solutions now cover all types of mines, including coal mines, metal mines, and building material mines, and have been implemented on a large scale in more than 20 large mining enterprises, such as Datang Dong'er Coal Mine in Inner Mongolia, an open-pit mine in Xinjiang, and China National Building Material South Cement.

The data in the "Research Report on the Development of China's Low-Speed Unmanned Driving Industry" more intuitively reflects Bolei Technology's achievements in the field of unmanned driving in mining areas: As of the end of 2024, Bolei Technology ranked first in the market share of pure-electric unmanned mining trucks. More than 300 unmanned mining trucks across the country are equipped with Bolei's system, with a cumulative safe operation distance of 20 million kilometers and a total transportation volume of more than 370 million tons of earth and rock.

Bolei Technology compares itself to "NIO in the commercial vehicle field" because its product features are "unmanned driving + unmanned battery swapping." Currently, the company has two mass-produced models. One is the Bolei Electric Bull 105 with integrated charging and battery swapping functions, and the other is the Bolei Electric Bull 145, which was launched last year and is designed for large open-pit coal mines in the north. It is currently the new energy unmanned mining truck with the largest load capacity on the market.

Along with the mass-produced vehicles, a dispatching system for large pure-electric fleets was also launched. The system can monitor the remaining battery power of mining trucks in real-time, receive data from cloud-based battery swapping stations dynamically, and autonomously plan the optimal battery swapping route to ensure that the vehicles can accurately connect to the nearest battery swapping station before the battery runs out. In addition, the company cooperated with State Power Investment Corporation to pioneer an unattended battery swapping station. The battery swapping station can complete battery replacement within 6 minutes through fully automated operations of robotic arms and reverse-schedule the transportation priority of mining trucks.

All of the above address the pain points of traditional mining trucks, which are "high energy consumption, high emissions, and high costs." Bolei Technology has done the math:

The annual labor cost for a driver in a mining area is approximately 300,000 yuan. There are currently about hundreds of thousands of mining trucks in the market. If all these trucks are replaced with Bolei Technology's unmanned vehicles, it can save tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of yuan in labor costs.

Bolei Technology's battery swapping solution saves fuel costs for mining areas while alleviating the anxiety about energy replenishment. Bolei Technology believes that the operating cost of pure-electric mining trucks is lower than that of fuel-powered and hybrid mining trucks. However, pure-electric vehicles have the pain point of energy replenishment anxiety, and battery swapping can effectively relieve this anxiety.

Bolei Technology explained, "Passenger cars have plenty of time to charge during the user's working hours because cars don't need to operate 24/7, so users may not strongly feel the convenience of battery swapping.

However, mining trucks must operate around the clock. They can only stop during shift changes or when the mine requires it. Therefore, mining trucks don't have much time for charging, otherwise, it will affect the operational efficiency of the mining area. This is when the significance of battery swapping becomes prominent."

The in-depth cooperation with central state-owned enterprises such as State Power Investment Corporation further strengthens Bolei Technology's advantages. "Only central state-owned enterprises can afford the cost of heavy assets like battery swapping stations. We have always used the battery swapping stations operated by State Power Investment Corporation, and now CATL has also joined in.

When customers purchase our mining trucks, they don't need to consider the cost of batteries or the cost of building battery swapping stations. The only cost they need to consider is the service fee per kilowatt-hour. This fee is definitely lower than the cost of fuel, so customers are willing to choose our solution of separating the vehicle and the battery."

The policies of relevant government departments are another favorable factor for Bolei Technology.

Last year, the National Mine Safety Administration and other departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Deeply Promoting the Intelligent Construction of Mines and Promoting the Safe Development of Mines." The document requires that by 2026, the proportion of intelligent production capacity in coal mines across the country should not be less than 60%, the proportion of intelligent working faces should not be less than 30%, the normal operation rate of intelligent working faces should not be less than 80%, the number of underground workers in mines across the country should be reduced by more than 10%, and the number of single-shift workers should not exceed 50.

Moreover, relevant local government departments in areas such as Zhundong in Xinjiang, Shanxi, and Jiangsu have also issued documents in recent years, setting requirements for the unmanned operation rate in mining areas. All these have promoted the popularization of Bolei Technology's products.

Bolei Technology predicts that the market for unmanned driving in mining areas will reach hundreds of billions of yuan in the future, and Bolei Technology will undoubtedly be one of the beneficiaries of this market growth. In the next three years, the company will enter a period of high revenue growth, and its annual revenue will experience explosive growth within three years.