BP has signed an equity purchase agreement with Aulton New Energy Automotive Technology Co Ltd, to become a shareholder of its subsidiary, Guangzhou Aulton New Energy Technology Co Ltd, the company said on Monday.

The acquisition will result in Guangzhou Aulton operating as a joint venture between BP and Aulton New Energy to provide safe and efficient battery swapping services for taxis, ride-hailing providers, and other passenger cars in Guangzhou, it said. 

"We want to provide the fastest, most convenient charging solutions for our customers, and this partnership will enable fleet customers to swap a depleted EV battery for a fully charged one in just one minute or less," said Richard Bartlett, BP senior vice president for future mobility and solutions. 

"That's revolutionary and we're excited to be part of it together with Aulton and OEMs. Providing innovative charging solutions like rapid battery swapping will help meet China's fast-growing EV needs. It's another demonstration of BP's commitment to becoming a leading EV solutions provider."

The Chinese government has been actively promoting the development of battery swap technologies in parallel with conventional EV charging, with the aim of achieving more than 100,000 battery swap vehicles and more than 1,000 battery swap stations in 11 cities.

With BP's global electrification expertise and operational safety capabilities and Aulton's battery-swapping expertise and network, the partners will look to expand their venture across China, the world's largest and fastest-developing EV market with around 50 percent of the world's battery electric vehicles today, the British company said.

The companies are also actively exploring other collaboration opportunities.