Nio has expanded its battery swapping network by partnering with Lotus, as announced at Auto China in Beijing. The collaboration entails a comprehensive strategic agreement focused on battery swapping and charging technologies for electric vehicles (EVs).
The agreement includes cooperation on battery standards, as well as charging and exchange technologies. Nio began seeking partners for its battery exchange stations last year and has since signed agreements with Changan, JAC, and Chery. However, no vehicles from other manufacturers currently utilize Nio’s technology.
Lotus, renowned for its high-quality EVs with large batteries, is seen as a strategic fit for Nio’s battery swapping services. This partnership is further strengthened by Geely’s collaboration with Nio on battery swapping since November 2023. Despite this, Lotus has not yet announced specific models that will support battery replacement at Nio stations.
Nio currently operates 2,404 battery swapping stations in China, with 790 located along 13 motorways connecting eleven city clusters. Additionally, Nio has nearly 22,000 charging points at 3,800 locations, which have been open to other brands for some time.
William Li, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Nio, expressed his optimism about the partnership, stating, “Cooperation is always the best option. NIO has always been open to cooperation in charging and swapping technologies as well as infrastructure network deployment.” He added, “We would like to work together with Lotus to push forward the development of the premium smart electric vehicle market, make joint efforts in technological innovation and standard unification for charging and swapping, push for a larger-scale, standardized and unified energy infrastructure network, so as to deliver efficient and friendly recharging service experiences to users.”
Qingfeng Feng, CEO of Group Lotus, also commented, saying, “Our cooperation with NIO to share with each other the charging and swapping resources will allow our users to experience the track genes and ultimate performance of Lotus while enjoying friendly services of NIO’s charging and swapping network across China.”
