Nio said on Thursday it opened a new battery swap station in Hamburg, its 21st in Germany and 61st in Europe.
The previous two stations in the Old Continent were inaugurated in April and December, showing a major slowdown in expansion compared to 2023 and early 2024.
The company had doubled its European network to 30 swap stations by November 2023 and added 20 more within eight months, reaching 50 by July 2024.
Since then, only 11 new sites have been added.
Nio reached its 200,000th battery swap in Europe last month, less than nine months after surpassing the 100,000 mark.
In China, the company founded and led by William Li has carried out nearly 85 million swaps since launching the service in 2018, with a current daily average of above 100,000.
The network there is approaching 3,500 stations as the EV maker prepares to begin mass scale production of its 5th generation stations early next year, as reported last week.
After setting a target of building 2,000 new stations in 2025, Li reduced it to a range of 1,800 to 2,000 new swap stations.
However, as of Thursday, the company has installed fewer than 500 amid efforts to cut investment and fixed costs ahead of a self-imposed profitability goal in the fourth quarter.
In addition to swap stations, Nio opened a 1,294-square-meter Nio House showroom in Hamburg in June 2024, its fourth in Germany and eighth in Europe.
Meanwhile, vehicle sales in Germany remain under pressure.
Data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) showed Nio registered 23 vehicles in August, down 34.3% from a year earlier and half the 47 units sold in July.
Year-to-date registrations stood at 191, a 36.5% drop from the same period in 2024. The company sold 398 vehicles in Germany in 2024, already down 68.5% from 1,263 in 2023.
To boost demand, Nio introduced new incentives for its two entry-level models in July, following a flexible subscription campaign launched in June.
