Onvo, the family-focused sub-brand of the EV maker Nio, said Friday it will add more than 8,000 battery packs to China’s swap network until mid next month, addressing a gap that left many stations without compatible batteries for its vehicles.
The company sources batteries primarily from its partner/investor CATL and from CALB for its 60kWh, 75kWh, 85kWh, and 100kWh packs.
As reported by EV last month, Nio has stopped producing its 150kWh semi-solid pack co-developed with WeLion.
The rollout, branded the “national battery-swap station battery doubling plan,” is expected to complete by mid-January and will more than double Onvo battery inventory across the network ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday season, the company said on Weibo.
“The battery addition began in November, and more than 800 units have been completed so far,” it added.
The shortage stems from a mismatch in battery specifications.
Nio‘s swap network was built around 75kWh and 100kWh packs for its main brand, while Onvo uses smaller 60kWh and 85kWh cells — requiring stations to stock additional inventory to serve the sub-brand’s growing customer base.
As of Friday, Nio has completed more than 93.6 million battery swaps across 3,604 stations in China and 60 in Europe. However, fewer than 2,300 can be used by Onvo customers.
The network will expand further with fifth-generation swap stations, set to begin pilot operations in China later this month and launch commercially early next year.
The new stations will store more than the current fourth-generation’s 23-unit capacity and will also accommodate batteries for Firefly, Nio‘s second sub-brand.
Production Constraints
The swap-network gap follows separate supply-chain pressures that delayed vehicle deliveries. Onvo’s L90, a six-seat SUV launched on July 31 with deliveries starting August 1, saw lead times widen from four to five weeks at launch to eight to ten weeks within weeks of its debut.
The company attributed delays to a “rapid surge in order volume,” saying some orders would take “slightly longer than expected” despite full-capacity operations.
Similar constraints hit the L60, Onvo’s five-seat SUV whose deliveries began in September 2024, when Citi analyst Jeff Chung reported shortages of 60kWh LFP packs from BYD’s FinDreams division.
Nio founder William Li confirmed the issue exactly a year ago, saying CATL had ramped 85kWh pack production by November and that a third supplier was being added.
150kWh Pack Shelved
Three years after its initial announcement and following multiple delays, Nio began mass-producing its 150kWh semi-solid-state battery in April 2024. Less than a year later, the company acknowledged minimal demand for the ultra-long-range option.
The pack, first unveiled at Nio‘s annual event in January 2021, “has proven more valuable as a marketing tool than a product customers actually use,” Chief Executive Officer William Li said in November, effectively ruling out its introduction to European markets.
“We have produced several hundred packs,” Li said, without specifying when production stopped.
