(Yicai Global) Nov. 21 -- Shares of IAT Automobile Technology surged after the Chinese automotive design firm said it plans to join hands with a new energy vehicle affiliate and battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology to develop NEVs with exchangeable batteries.

IAT's stock price [SHE: 300825] closed 10.8 percent up at CNY13.38 (USD1.90) after gaining as much as 14.5 percent intraday.

The car design company and several outside investors, including CATL, plan to invest a total of CNY164 million (USD22.9 million) in Gecko New Energy Vehicle Technology, Beijing-based IAT said in a statement yesterday. 

IAT was one of the shareholders that established Shenzhen-based Gecko in February. The latter develops NEVs based on a skateboard chassis. Gecko's actual controller, Liu Jiangfeng, used to be a senior vice president of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies and president of its former budget phone brand Honor.

In the latest round of financing, the startup is scheduled to receive a CNY60 million (USD8.4 million) injection from CATL, and CNY50 million from IAT. This should increase IAT’s stake in Gecko to 12.8 percent from 8.2 percent, while CATL will become one of the new shareholders with a 7.7 percent stake.

After the capital injection, the three firms will join hands to develop new electric vehicle models with skateboard chassis, featuring exchangeable batteries, IAT said in a second statement the same day, citing a framework agreement. IAT will be in charge of vehicle designs while CATL and Gecko will provide the battery solution, according to the deal.

The partnership should help form an industrial alliance involving skateboard chassis and NEV battery swap technologies, while creating a commercial win-win loop, the firm added. Skateboard chassis is a new vehicle platform design that can be adapted to different models with lower production costs, larger space, and a higher potential for intelligence, according to IAT. 

CATL has been doubling down on battery swap solutions. The Fujian province-based company launched its battery swap service brand Evogo in January, expecting to shortly go to 10 Chinese cities.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi