Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Electric vehicle maker Nio, known for its battery swap technology, launched its fourth generation of battery swap stations a year ago. These stations can store up to 23 batteries and are compatible with vehicles from its sub-brand, Onvo.
The third-generation stations, however, are not compatible with Onvo vehicles. To address this, Nio began upgrading all third-generation stations built in China between early 2023 and June 2024.
Nio vehicles use 75kWh batteries for standard range, 100kWh for long range, and 150kWh for ultra-long range, while Onvo vehicles are equipped with 60kWh or 85kWh batteries.
In a Q&A shared on its official app, Nio’s sub-brand, which operates over 1,000 Onvo-compatible battery swap stations in China, stated that “some stations may not yet have full battery reserves.”
“As of December 29, there are 1,000 swap stations nationwide supporting battery-swapping. Due to ramping up production capacity recently, some stations may not yet have full battery reserves,” the company said.
“However, we aim to replenish available batteries extensively before the Lunar New Year” — scheduled to start on January 29.
In December alone, Nio added 254 fourth-generation battery swap stations and 125 charging stations in China. Of its nearly 3,000 swap stations, 949 are situated along highways. The company’s charging network, which is accessible to several other new energy vehicle (NEV) brands, now features 25,033 chargers.
2025’s Target: 2,000 New Stations
After a slower pace of station deployment in China during the first half of the year, the company has significantly accelerated its efforts and can now build and open 200 stations in just 30 days.
In 2025, Nio plans to build 2,000 swap stations, Chief Executive William Li told reporters on December 22, adding that the pace in Europe “will be slower.”
Modular-Extendable Stations
Just before the end of 2024, the EV maker filed a patent for an innovative expandable battery swap station system. This design allows modular extension units to be added to existing stations, increasing their battery storage capacity.
Currently, fourth-generation swap stations can hold up to 23 batteries, up from the 21-battery capacity of third-generation stations.
Battery Swap Stations for the Firefly brand
Nio’s newly unveiled brand, Firefly, will feature smaller batteries compared to the Nio and Onvo models. The compact EV will have its own dedicated battery swap stations, which, according to Li, will be significantly faster and cheaper to produce.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
