Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio, known for its battery swap technology which allows the car to receive a fully charged battery in about four minutes, is gearing up to launch in the United Arab Emirates later this year.
On LinkedIn, the company’s Expansion Manager Geir Nevjen announced that the rollout of battery swap stations in the country will start with the Yas Marina F1 Circuit — which is 30 minutes away from the capital Abu Dhabi.
“Nio Powerswap Stations coming to [the] United Arab Emirates, starting with Yas Marina F1 Circuit,” Nevjen wrote.
The Abu Dhabi GP will take place in early December as part of Formula 1 and it will take place over 58 laps of the 5.281-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island.
Roberto Lopes da Silva, Nio’s general manager for the market, joined the company in May after spending one year as a Chief Sales Officer at the Canadian EV company AXL.
After expanding to Norway in 2021 and four other markets in late 2022, the new expansion wave is about to start for the Shanghai-based manufacturer.
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Since announcing in January 2021 that it would be present in “25 markets and regions by 2025”, the company has expanded to five markets across central and northern Europe.
In July, Nio’s engineering and product development team tested its vehicles to a range of harsh conditions in the Desert, including temperatures reaching up to 124°F (51 degrees Celsius).
In December 2023, Nio secured a $2.2 billion investment from CYVN Holdings, an Abu Dhabi-based investment vehicle, which increased CYVN’s ownership to 20.1 per cent of the company’s total issued and outstanding shares.
The investment followed a $1 billion investment made by CYVN a year ago in July 2023.
During the first-quarter earnings conference call in early June, Nio founder and CEO William Li announced the company’s plans to expand into the Middle East later this year without specifying any concrete date.
“Regarding our entry into the Middle East market, we are preparing to offer our products and services in the UAE,” Li stated.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
