(Nio holds the Nio Power Day event in Shanghai. Source: CnEVPost)
Nio held its first Nio Power Day event in Shanghai on Friday and listed ambitious battery swap station construction goals. In Deutsche Bank's view, this is a welcome move.
In a brief research note titled "Unleash the Power" sent to investors on Monday, Edison Yu's team said the Nio Power Day event reinforced the company's focus on quickly growing and improving its charging infrastructure as there are nearly 120,000 Nio vehicles on the road.
"As we have written before, Nio's ability to seamlessly integrate multiple methods of energy replenishment into its ecosystem has resonated extremely well with Chinese customers (e.g., nearly 3m battery swaps conducted since inception)," the note reads.
Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating on Nio, along with a $60 price target.
Nio fell 0.15 percent to $45.30 on Friday.
Nio Power is Nio's energy replenishment system, which first became available to customers on June 28, 2018, and it has now provided service more than 3.4 million times.
At the event last Friday, Nio co-founder and president Qin Lihong announced that Nio's previous goal about completing 500 battery swap stations this year was raised to more than 700.
In addition to raising this year's target significantly, Nio also announced aggressive goals for the next few years.
By the end of 2025, Nio will have more than 4,000 battery swap stations worldwide, including 1,000 in overseas markets.
From 2022 to 2025, Nio will add 600 battery swap stations per year in the Chinese market, Qin said.
These aggressive plans are part of Nio's efforts to further improve the user replenishment experience, as it has always touted itself as a user-centric company.
Nio said only 29 percent of customers currently have a battery swap station within a 3-kilometer radius, which is unsatisfactory, and it hopes to have 90 percent of customers within a 3-kilometer radius by 2025.
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