Nio Power, the energy infrastructure unit of Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc, said on Thursday it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Wuhan’s state-owned Optics Valley Traffic Company to advance the construction and operation of charging and battery swap facilities.
Under the agreement, the two sides will cooperate on charging and battery swap infrastructure, energy innovation projects and the development of a broader brand ecosystem, Nio said in a statement. The company did not disclose financial terms or a construction timeline. An image released by Nio showed Chief Financial Officer and Nio Power head Stanley Qu attending the signing ceremony.
Optics Valley Traffic is a state-owned enterprise founded in 2014, with core businesses spanning engineering management, investment and technical services, according to its corporate profile.
Nio Power was established in Wuhan in 2017 and was initially wholly owned by Nio Holding. In May 2024, Nio said the unit had secured 1.5 billion yuan ($210 million) in external funding from strategic investors in Wuhan, marking its first round of outside investment to support the expansion of its energy infrastructure.
The company operates a battery swap station assembly plant in Wuhan covering about 20,000 square metres. According to a December announcement by local authorities, the plant’s maximum annual capacity is expected to reach 1,500 battery swap stations by 2025, with an output value exceeding 2 billion yuan.
As of the latest update, Nio operates 3,606 battery swap stations across China, including 1,003 along highways. It also runs 4,830 charging stations nationwide, providing a total of 27,536 charging piles, as it continues to invest heavily in proprietary energy infrastructure to support vehicle sales.