Nio will begin deploying pioneer fifth-generation battery-swap stations in China in the first quarter of 2026, with large-scale deployment starting in Q2, the founder and CEO William Li said this week.
“Starting from Q2 next year, all the battery-swap stations we deploy will be fifth-generation stations,” Li stated.
Nio plans to complete deployment of its current fourth-generation stations before transitioning fully to the new system.
“We’ve moved past the first generation, our fourth-generation stations still have some way to go — we can’t waste that capacity, we need to complete those deployments,” the CEO said.
The timeline aligns with comments made last August by Nio‘s co-founder and President Lihong Qin, who said fifth-generation stations would roll out “early next year” and that the project was “proceeding smoothly,” with engineering units already built and undergoing verification.
‘Ultimate Goal’ of Swap Strategy
Qin described the fifth-generation stations as central to NIO’s long-term infrastructure vision.
“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,” he stated last August.
The new stations will be compatible with all three Nio group brands — Nio, Onvo, and Firefly — as well as external partners that have joined the company’s battery-swap alliance.
“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,” Qin added.
Nio‘s current fourth-generation stations complete a swap in less than three minutes, use LiDAR for positioning, can store up to 23 battery packs, and can provide up to 480 swaps per day.
Alliance Partners: 2 Years, 0 Models
Nio has signed battery-swap alliance agreements with eight automakers since November 2023, when Changan Automobile became the first partner.
Geely, Chery, JAC, Lotus, GAC, and FAW Group subsequently joined, expanding what Nio positioned as an industry-wide push for battery standardization.
However, as of December 2025 — more than two years after the first agreement — no mass-produced battery-swappable models from alliance partners have been launched on the market.
The automakers that promised to “jointly promote battery standardization” at signing ceremonies have collectively remained silent on timelines, raising questions about where the highly anticipated industry collaboration has stalled.
In January 2025, GAC’s Director of Battery System Integration Qingquan Wang said at a media event at company headquarters in Guangzhou that GAC had completed “technical alignments” to make upcoming models compatible with the Nio system.
Asked when consumers could expect the first battery-swap-compatible models from GAC Group, Wang said the company was in negotiations with Nio and waiting for internal approval for model development.
2025 Station Target Shortfall
Nio founder and CEO William Li 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 December 11, the company has installed fewer than 620 new sites in 2025.
Li acknowledged in September that Nio would fall short of its 2025 target as it shifts resources toward the next-generation system.
As of Thursday, Nio operated 3,613 battery-swap stations in China and has provided more than 94.2 million battery swaps, according to company data.
CATL Chocolate Partnership
Li said earlier this year Nio‘s collaboration with CATL on the Chocolate battery-swap system was ongoing, noting “there’s a good chance Firefly will use Chocolate.”
However, management confirmed last month that this is no longer Nio‘s plan.
Flexibility and ‘Battery Swap Hubs’
In April, Onvo President Shen Fei — formerly head of Nio‘s power division — 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 ($410,000–$550,000) in value.
