The founder and chief executive officer of the EV maker Nio defended the company’s charging infrastructure strategy in a Weibo post on Friday, responding to criticism of its efforts to build charging stations in remote regions of China.
In the post, William Li announced the launch of a new supercharging station in Bayinbuluk, a remote town along the scenic Duku Highway in Xinjiang.
The site is part of Nio’s nationwide initiative to establish “scenic charging routes” enabling long-distance EV travel across the country.
“To date, we’ve built 76 charging and battery swap stations in Xinjiang and over 8,000 across China,” the EV maker’s founder wrote. “Our 80 millionth battery swap is just around the corner.”
Li also addressed the criticism of Nio’s approach.
“Many people say what Nio is doing is a little foolish,” the executive wrote.
“But this has been the “foolish” thing we’ve consistently done for years — all for a simple reason: to make sure electric car drivers can go anywhere. We’re going to keep charging ahead!” Li added.
His comments came a few days after the new energy vehicle (NEV) maker Li Auto surpassed Nio in the number of supercharging stations built across China.
As of July 10, Li Auto operated 4,667 charging stations nationwide, including 2,890 supercharging sites and 1,777 fast-charging locations.
Nio, as of July 14, reported 2,890 supercharging stations, 481 highway sites, and 1,777 destination charging stations — bringing its total to 5,148.
In addition to the charging infrastructure, Nio operated 3,402 battery swap stations across China (3,403 as of Friday), a technology not adopted by the NEV maker.
Nio is expected to reach 80 million cumulative battery swaps later this Friday. As of the time of writing, the Shanghai-based brand has provided about 79.93 million battery swaps in China.
The company’s charging network is compatible with several Chinese EV brands, including Zeekr, Xiaomi, Avatr, Chery, Dongfeng Motor’s MHero, the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA), Hongqi, Deepal, Aion, IM Motors, Lotus Cars, Cadillac, Buick, and XPeng.
U.S.-listed shares of Nio reached on Thursday a new 3-month high when hitting $4.45. The stock closed 7.06% higher at $4.40.
The rally came one day after the unveiling of a special edition of the company’s flagship executive sedan, the ET9, and praise from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who described Nio and XPeng vehicles as “very luxurious.”
