Earlier this year, signed an agreement with furniture retail giant and real estate conglomerate Red Star Macalline Group (Red Star) to collaborate on the construction of battery swap stations. Now, another facility under the partnership is in operation.

Nio announced Wednesday that it has put a new battery swap station into operation in Shenzhen, the 18th in the southern China megacity.

It is the first battery swap station in Shenzhen under the partnership between Nio and Red Star, and the 20th under this deal in China.

Nio and Red Star signed a partnership agreement in February to jointly build 60 charging stations and battery swap stations.

Under the agreement, Nio will receive support from Red Star for the construction and operation of the stations in 2021, which is expected to further enhance the quality of energy replenishment services for Nio customers.

As of July 28, Nio has 28 battery swap stations, 15 Supercharging stations, 18 destination charging stations, and access to 41,700 third-party charging posts in Shenzhen and Dongguan.

In China, Nio now has 323 battery swap stations, 217 Supercharging stations, 399 destination charging stations, and access to over 390,000 third-party charging piles.

Nio originally planned to have 500 battery swap stations in China by the end of this year, but at the first Nio Power Day event on July 9, the company's co-founder and president Qin Lihong announced that the target had been raised to 700.

On July 9, Nio said that only 29 percent of customers currently have a battery swap station within a 3-kilometer radius, which is unsatisfactory.

By 2025, Nio hopes to have 90 percent of customers within a 3 km radius of a battery swap station.