NIO Inc. NIO and Changan Automobile signed an agreement on battery swapping. Both companies will come together to formulate standards for swappable batteries, build and share the battery swapping network, develop swappable vehicles and set up an efficient battery asset management mechanism.
William LI, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO and Huarong ZHU, chairman and party secretary of Changan Automobile, held talks and marked their presence during the signing of the agreement. Lihong QIN, co-founder and president of NIO and Fei SHEN, senior vice president of NIO also witnessed the event.
For the development of the smart electric vehicle (EV) industry, it is crucial to expand the recharging network. Battery swapping has emerged as a quick, effective and sustainable recharging solution for smart EVs.
Multiple Chinese authorities have released documents and guidelines in a bid to encourage the establishment of battery swapping network and standards, promote wider adoption of the battery swapping model and support the formulation of standards for the battery swapping architecture in battery EVs, universal battery swapping platform and swappable batteries, which will help optimize resource utilization.
The documents and guidelines include the NewEnergy Vehicle Industry Development Plan, the Implementation Plan for Further Enhancing the Service Capability of Charging and Swapping Infrastructure and the Notice on Launching Pilot Program of Swappable New Energy Vehicles. The partnership between NIO and Changan Auto delivers to the requirements of these guidelines.
Changan Auto has 39 years of experience in vehicle production and operates 12 manufacturing bases and 22 factories globally.
NIO is the leading operator of battery-swapping networks for smart EVs in the world. It has more than 2,100 Power Swap Stations worldwide. This year, NIO had plans of installing 1,000 new stations in China. It provided over 32 million battery swaps for users as of Nov 20, 2023.
Per William Li, over the last five years, NIO has accumulated a rich experience in research and development, construction and operations of Power Swap Stations. It is now ready to open up its technologies and infrastructure to the entire industry.