Zeekr said it has no plans to develop battery-swap models, two days after its parent group agreed to take a stake in Nio’s swapping business and made preliminary plans to bring swapping to Geely’s consumer cars.
“Zeekr has no plans to develop battery-swap models,” the premium brand said on Tuesday in its “Zeekr Zero Distance” Q&A post, answering a question about the tie-up between Geely Holding Group and Nio.
Zeekr is the premium brand of Geely Automobile, Geely Holding’s Hong Kong-listed carmaker.
The question noted that the two groups had reached “a strategic cooperation in the field of charging and battery swapping,” and asked whether Zeekr would develop swap-capable models.
Zeekr said its future product line “will remain focused on two directions.”
The first is fully electric models “with ultra-fast charging capability,” and the second is its Haohan super electric hybrid models, which it called an industry first.
“We will increase investment and keep improving the efficiency of users’ energy replenishment across multiple scenarios,” it said.
Zeekr competes directly with the Nio brand in China’s premium electric-car market, and the two now differ on powertrains as well as on swapping.
Despite the deal announced on early Monday, Nio’s US-listed shares reached a new 14-month low on Tuesday at $3.38 before closing the session at $3.40.
What the Deal Says
Under agreements signed on Monday, a Geely Holding subsidiary will contribute its swap operator Yiyi Internet Technology and 640 million yuan ($95.5 million) in cash for 30% of NIO Power, valuing the unit at about 16 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) after the investment, Nio said.
Nio will separately take 10% of Haohan Energy, the Geely charging business that oversees charging for Zeekr, Lotus and other Geely passenger-car brands.
Both transactions are subject to regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions.
Nio’s release also said the two groups “have made preliminary plans for the adoption of battery swapping technology and provision of related services for both consumer-facing vehicle models and commercial mobility businesses from Geely Holding Group’s related entities.”
“The finalization and implementation of these plans are subject to further discussions between the relevant parties,” it said.
Neither company has said which Geely brands those plans would cover. Zeekr’s answer suggests it will not be among them, at least for now.
Charging Instead
Zeekr pointed to its 900-volt architecture as its alternative to swapping.
It said the refreshed Zeekr 001 sedan charges from 10% to 70% in an average of 4 minutes 30 seconds, which it called the fastest charging of any mass-produced car in the world.
The figure applies to the version with a 95 kilowatt-hour Aegis Golden Brick battery, using ultra-fast charging at Geely’s own smart charging stations, according to Zeekr’s fine print.
Zeekr said the feature would come to the refreshed 001 first and be delivered through an over-the-air update.
Geely presented the same 4-minute-30-second figure last week when it unveiled a 2,250-kilowatt charging station, labelling it an average measured at room temperature on models with a peak charging rate of 12C.
For its 9X super hybrid SUV, Zeekr cited a combined range of up to 1,250 kilometres with a full tank and battery, electric-only range of up to 380 kilometres and a 20% to 80% charge in as little as 9 minutes.
Rivals on Powertrain
Zeekr pledged to be an EV-only premium brand when it launched in 2021.
It has since added plug-in hybrids, starting with the 9X SUV, which it launched in China in late September 2025 as its first hybrid, followed by the 8X.
Nio has stayed with fully electric vehicles across its Nio, Onvo and Firefly brands, and has never released a hybrid.
“I estimate that globally, only two companies focus exclusively on pure electric vehicles, and Nio is one of them,” Li said in December.
He has called extended-range electric vehicles “clearly a transitional solution” and pointed to battery swapping and falling battery prices as the case for pure EVs.
Zeekr’s answer on Tuesday named its hybrids as one of the two pillars of its future line-up, alongside ultra-fast-charging EVs.
Nio’s Europe Remarks
The answer was published the same day as the full version of an interview in which Nio Founder and Chief Executive Officer William Li said Geely colleagues had asked whether the two sides should announce a European swap-network plan together next year.
Li did not say which Geely brands such a network would serve. Zeekr’s statement does not refer to any market, and the brand is expanding in Europe.
