Inspired by the behavior of microbats’ echolocation in nature, bat algorithm is a novel optimization algorithm. Based on the analysis of bionic principles of the algorithm and the structure of the distribution networks, it is proposed that the algorithm is applied to solve the fault location problem. In order to improve the global searching ability of the algorithm, the cellular automata theory is used. A fault section location model of distribution network is built to simulate distribution networks with single fault or multiple faults. Then the feasibility of the algorithm is verified with and without distortion of the uploaded fault information respectively. Finally compared the bat algorithm with other algorithms, it indicates that the bat algorithm has better convergence.