Nio will roll out its fifth-generation battery swap stations in China starting “early next year,” co-founder and president Lihong Qin said on Friday, confirming for the first time that development is on track for the next-gen stations.
Until now, it was unclear whether the Shanghai-based EV maker would unveil the new stations at its annual event, scheduled for the second half of September.
Speaking at a media Q&A session during the opening day of the Chengdu Auto Show, Qin said the project “is proceeding smoothly,” with engineering units already built and undergoing verification.
“The development of the fifth-generation battery swap station is proceeding smoothly. The engineering station is currently undergoing verification, and large-scale deployment will begin early next year,” Lihong said.
He added that the new generation of stations will be compatible with all three brands of the group — Nio, Onvo and Firefly — but also external brands that have been partnering with the company over the last few years.
“The fifth-generation stations will also be further compatible: if in the future other companies join our battery swap alliance and adopt our swap system, they will all be compatible,” Lihong added.
Nio‘s co-founder described the stations as a key milestone in Nio’s long-term infrastructure push.
“The fifth-generation battery swap station is a highly compatible and intelligent battery swap station, and it can be said to be the ultimate goal of our battery swap strategy. Our collaboration with CATL on Chocolate battery swap is ongoing, and there’s a good chance Firefly will use Chocolate,” he stated.
As of Friday, Nio operated 3,467 battery swap stations in China and has provided more than 84.2 million battery swaps, according to company data.
In April, Fei Shen — the former head of Nio’s power division and now chief of its Onvo sub-brand — said the company is focusing on making future stations more flexible and customizable to meet different needs across brands.
“The key focus of our current iteration before the launch of the station is on its flexibility,” Shen said during the Shanghai Auto Show.
Nio has also filed a patent for a modular system that allows stations to expand by attaching new units, designed to handle rising demand in high-density markets.
Looking further ahead, Shen said Nio may develop larger “battery swap hubs” in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
These would feature centralized storage and multiple swap lanes, with daily capacity potentially reaching the equivalent of 3 million to 4 million yuan ($412,000–$549,000).
Nio founder and CEO William Li has set a goal of building 1,800 to 2,000 new swap stations in China this year, down slightly from an earlier target of 2,000. However, as of August 29, the company has installed fewer than 500 new sites in 2025.
The EV maker said earlier this month that it provided the 200,000th battery swap in Europe, as the opening of new stations on the continent faces a sharp slowdown.
