Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) maker Li Auto has overtaken Nio in the number of supercharging stations built across China, according to infrastructure data compiled by local media outlet Yiche.
The Beijing-based carmaker is preparing to launch its second fully electric model — the i8 — on July 29, and the third one — named i6 — in September.
As of July 10, Li Auto operated 4,667 charging stations nationwide, consisting of 2,890 supercharging sites and 1,777 fast-charging locations.
Nio, as of July 14, reported 2,890 supercharging stations, 481 charging stations on highways, and 1,777 destination charging sites — bringing its total number of charging stations to 5,148.
In addition, Nio operates 3,402 battery swap stations across China, a technology not adopted by Li Auto’s models.
The Shanghai-based EV maker is expected to reach 80 million cumulative battery swaps later this week.
Li Auto has also taken the lead in high-powered charging infrastructure. The company has installed more than 15,600 fast chargers rated above 120 kW, including a comparable number of ultra-fast chargers exceeding 250 kW.
Nio, by contrast, has deployed 13,396 fast-charging piles at its destination sites and 2,024 highway chargers.
Tesla remains one of the largest operators of fast-charging infrastructure in China, with approximately 2,800 stations and more than 11,600 chargers as of June 28.
XPeng reported 2,862 stations and around 12,800 as of July 12. Aion, the state-owned EV brand under the GAC Group, had 2,348 stations and 16,819 chargers as of July 2.
Li Auto has also built a larger highway charging network, with 1,470 highway charging stations and more than 4,500 highway-specific chargers. XPeng, as of early July, operated 30 highway charging sites.
Last week, Nio announced the opening of its 1,000th highway battery swap station, located at the Fushan Service Area on the G5011 Wuhu–Hefei highway.
The installation forms part of the “Power UP 2024” programme, under which Nio plans to extend its charging and swap station coverage to all county-level administrative divisions in China.
The company is targeting full coverage of more than 2,300 counties across 27 provincial-level regions by the end of 2025 and aims to expand that figure to over 2,800 from 2026 onward.
In 2025, Nio plans to construct between 1,800 and 2,000 new energy stations—slightly below its previous target of 2,000.
However, the company closed the first half of the year with only 384 new sites completed — just 21.3% of the lower end of the guidance and 19.2% of the high end.
To meet even the lower bound of its revised goal, Nio would need to add an average of 54 stations each week of the second half of the year and 62 stations to reach the 2,000 target.
Nio’s charging infrastructure is compatible with systems operated by Zeekr, Xiaomi, Avatr, Chery, Dongfeng Motor’s MHero, the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, Hongqi, Deepal, Aion, IM Motors, Lotus Cars, Cadillac, Buick and XPeng.
The brand has also taken steps to improve operational efficiency, including filing a patent in late 2024 for an expandable, modular battery swap station system designed to increase capacity at existing sites without requiring new construction.
