In August 2024, the EV maker Nio presented ambitious targets for its battery swap network in China.
The company, which operates the largest battery swap network in the world’s largest EV market, closed 2024 with just under 3,000 battery swap stations and has opened over 500 since then.
At its ‘Power Up’ event, Nio said it would build battery swap stations in “over 1,200 counties of 14 provincial-level administrative divisions” before scaling it further to “over 2,300 counties of 27 provincial-level administrative divisions” by the end of 2025.
“By June 30, 2025, NIO Power Swap Station (PSS) will be built in over 1,200 counties of 14 provincial-level administrative divisions,” the August 20,2024, release reads.
“By December 31, 2025, the PSS network will be available in counties of another 13 provincial-level administrative divisions,” the company added. “By then, NIO PSS will have covered over 2,300 counties of 27 provincial-level administrative divisions.”
Earlier this year, on March 17 — and amid the announcement of a battery swap partnership with its partner and supplier CATL — Nio reaffirmed the June 2025 and December 2025 targets.
Less than two weeks later, the longtime executive and main brain behind Nio‘s highly developed battery swap technology Shen Fei left the role to lead the sub-brand Onvo.
However, only this Monday Nio said its battery swap stations now cover more than 1,200 county-level regions across China.
The first of the two targets announced 13 months ago was achieved on September 29, three months after the deadline set last year.
The electric-vehicle maker said county-level coverage has been achieved in Beijing, Shanghai, Macau, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Tianjin, Chongqing and Hainan.
The network stretches east to Jiamusi in Heilongjiang, south to Sanya in Hainan, west to Karamay in Xinjiang and north to Qiqihar in Heilongjiang, according to a statement.
The announcement comes weeks after Nio‘s management warning that the target for 1,800-2,000 new battery swap stations in China won’t be met.
A reported earlier this month, founder and Chief Executive Officer William Li said the company will fall short of its 2025 target for new battery swap stations in China as it shifts resources toward a next-generation system.
Nio had initially aimed to install 2,000 new sites this year, later revising the goal to between 1,800 and 2,000.
As of Monday, the company has added 513 sites — equal to about 25% to 28% of its full-year target.
Li said deployment of current fourth-generation stations has slowed because they cannot be upgraded to support the wider range of battery sizes across Nio and its two sub-brands, Onvo and Firefly.
“Mainly because we have to think about deploying the fifth-generation stations,” Li said, adding that the new system will launch in the first quarter of 2026.
Nio’s fourth-generation stations complete a swap in less than three minutes, use LiDAR, can store up to 23 battery packs, and can provide up to 480 swaps per day.
The fifth-generation units are expected to be more flexible, store more packs and perform swaps in less time. Nio has filed patents for modular hubs this year and is considering larger installations in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The growing diversity of battery packs sharply increases the complexity for each station.
Nio currently uses 75, 100, 120 and 150 kilowatt-hour packs, while Onvo models run on 65 and 85 kWh units, and Firefly’s first car uses a 42.1 kWh pack — seven capacities in total, up from just two three years ago.
As of Monday, Nio operates 8,272 charging and swapping stations, including 3,513 battery swap stations — 1,002 of them on highways — and 4,759 charging stations with 27,256 individual chargers.
The network has delivered more than 87 million battery swaps and 71.7 million charging sessions.
It also integrates 1.37 million third-party chargers, with outside users accounting for more than 85% of charging volume.
The company earlier this month inaugurated its 3,500th battery swap station in Hangzhou and is offering free swaps for Nio and Onvo users along the G318 Sichuan–Tibet route until October 12.
