and Sinopec will increase their efforts in charging and battery swap infrastructure deployment and explore more possibilities for cooperation, including new materials.

(Image credit: Nio)

The number of battery swap stations and charging stations built by Nio (NYSE: NIO, HKG: 9866) and Sinopec Group, a Chinese fossil fuel giant, has reached 175 since the strategic partnership was reached on April 15 last year.

Nio announced the information on its mobile app today, saying that this includes 71 battery swap stations, 75 supercharging stations and 29 destination charging stations, covering 26 provincial regions and 72 cities.

The 175th station of the cooperation between the two is located in Wuhan, Hubei province, central China, a station with both charging and battery swap functions, according to Nio.

In addition to cooperation in the construction of replenishment facilities, the two sides have also cooperated in areas such as research and development of new materials for automobiles, Nio said.

Nio and Sinopec will further strengthen the layout of charging and battery swap infrastructure and explore more cooperation possibilities, including new materials, to promote energy sustainability, the electric vehicle maker said.

On April 15, 2021, Nio and Sinopec signed a strategic cooperation agreement to collaborate on building a charging and battery swap infrastructure.

At that time, the first Nio second-generation swap station was opened in a Sinopec gas station area in Beijing in the presence of both companies. To date, the two companies have built three charging stations and battery swap stations in Beijing.

Compared with the first-generation battery swap stations, Nio's second-generation battery swap stations are cheaper to build, and the number of batteries stored was increased from 5 to 13.

Sinopec Chairman Zhang Yuzhuo said at the signing ceremony last year that the company is accelerating its transformation into a comprehensive energy service provider and plans to reach 5,000 charging stations and battery swap stations by 2025.

A partnership with Nio will help leverage the strengths of both companies in order to deepen cooperation in a wider range of areas, Zhang said previously.

As of April 15, Nio had 894 battery swap stations and 737 supercharging stations in China offering 4,102 charging piles, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

The company also has 685 destination charging stations offering 3,892 charging piles and access to more than 480,000 third-party charging piles.