A Nio electrical automobile makes use of one of many firm’s battery swap stations on Nov. 13, 2023, in Taicang, Jiangsu province of China.
Vcg | Visible China Group | Getty Photographs
BEIJING — Chinese language electrical automobile firm Nio stated Tuesday it plans to put in battery charging stations in each considered one of China’s 2,844 counties by the tip of June 2025.
The corporate additionally introduced plans to broaden its battery swap stations to greater than 2,300 of China’s counties by the tip of 2025. Nio goals to start out reaching the rest of counties with energy swaps in 2026, though it didn’t specify an finish date.
Nio’s efforts to construct out its battery charging and swapping stations comes as customers stay involved about how far an electrical automobile can drive on a single cost. Counties are one of many lowest-level jurisdictions in China, sometimes in much less developed areas.
The corporate stated greater than 200 different automobile manufacturers can entry its charging stations, and greater than 80% of the electrical energy Nio chargers present go to different manufacturers’ automobiles.
Chinese language electrical automobile corporations are additionally making an attempt to scale back the time drivers want to attend at a charging station.
Geely-owned Zeekr earlier this month introduced its automobiles outfitted with its new batteries can go from a 10% to an 80% cost in simply 10.5 minutes utilizing the corporate’s ultra-fast charging station. That is sooner than what Tesla advertises for its Mannequin 3.
It wasn’t instantly clear how rapidly Nio’s quickest battery chargers may replenish a battery.
With battery swapping, Nio claims it might use an automatic system to offer drivers of suitable automobiles a charged battery in about three minutes.
The corporate has ramped up strategic partnerships with automakers resembling Chang’an and Geely for its battery swapping enterprise.
Nio stated that as of Aug. 20, it has put in greater than 23,000 charging stations and at the very least 2,480 battery swap stations. It has accomplished greater than 51 million battery swaps so far.
Battery swaps accounted for greater than half the electrical energy that Nio drivers utilized in July. Multiple-fifth of energy used got here from chargers put in at house, with solely 4.5% attributed to Nio’s public chargers.
A rising energy enterprise
Nio’s newest bulletins for what it calls its Nio Energy enterprise comes after the corporate stated earlier this 12 months a Wuhan city-linked fund led an funding spherical of as much as 1.5 billion yuan ($210 million) within the unit. The vast majority of Nio’s income comes from car gross sales, however the phase together with energy providers grew by 5.2% within the first quarter to 1.53 billion yuan.
Nio has but to announce when it’ll launch second quarter earnings. The corporate did so final 12 months on the finish of August.
The Chinese language authorities has supported the event of a nationwide battery charging community as a part of its broader effort to spur the home electrical automobile trade. The nation’s newest “five-year plan” that kicked off in 2021 requires fast-charging stations nationwide, together with in at the very least 60% of freeway service areas.
China has stated it had 8.6 million battery charging stations in 2023, a 65% enhance from a 12 months in the past, for a ratio of 1 new station for each 2.4 new vitality automobiles offered that 12 months. New public charging stations grew by 42.7% to 929,000 in 2023, the info confirmed.
The U.S. stated it had a complete of 168,388 public EV charging stations in 2023, a 23.5% enhance from a 12 months in the past.
