Nio Power's battery swap station plant in Wuhan, Hubei province, saw its 100th battery swap station roll off the assembly line today, entering the scale-up phase of production.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) is expected to accelerate the construction of battery swap stations next year, as the capacity of a new plant that produces the facility increases.
The company's power business unit Nio Power's battery swap station plant in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province, saw its 100th swap station roll off the assembly line today, according to an announcement by the Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone Administrative Committee.
This marks the official entry into the large-scale mass production phase of Nio Power's largest energy product manufacturing site in the world, the announcement said.
The production facility, which covers an area of about 20,000 square meters, took two months from inception to production startup and is expected to deliver about 200 battery swap stations during this year.
By 2025, the facility's maximum capacity will reach 1,500 battery swap stations, with an annual output value of more than RMB 2 billion ($275 million), driving more upstream and downstream industry chain companies to Wuhan Optics Valley, where Nio Power is headquartered, the announcement said.
Nio Power, as an important business of Nio, has built a chargeable, swappable and upgradeable energy service system and participated in the formulation of a number of national and industry standards, the announcement read.
The business has grown into the world's largest battery swap service operator, leading the drive to make charging more convenient than refueling a reality, the announcement said.
To date, Nio Power has six manufacturing centers around the world, with a cumulative total of 2,806 battery swap stations and 24,455 charging piles, according to the announcement.
Officials in Wuhan, as well as Nio executives including senior vice president Shen Fei, witnessed the 100th battery swap station roll off the line at the Wuhan battery swap plant.
On July 24, Nio founder, chairman, and CEO William Li said the company established a project to build a new battery swap station assembly plant in Wuhan, which was expected to go into production in September.
Once the Wuhan plant is completed, Nio would have three battery swap stations assembly plants in China, with the other two in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, and Hefei, Anhui province, he said at the time.
Nio's vehicles are currently produced at its F1 and F2 plants in Hefei.
Nio announced on May 31 that Nio Power had received an RMB 1.5 billion investment from strategic investors in Wuhan, the first time the unit has received external investment to support its continued infrastructure push.
The financing would be used to advance research and development, manufacturing and operations in the areas of charging, battery swap, energy storage, battery services, and energy internet, Nio said in a statement at the time.
Nio did not announce at the time the valuation of Nio Power in the financing, or the number of shares ceded.
On June 6, the company's management said in an earnings call that Nio held about 90 percent of the equity after Nio Power received its first external financing.
Nio Power was founded in Wuhan in May 2017, with legal representative Shen, and was previously wholly owned by Nio Holding.
($1 = RMB 7.2640)
Nio signs deal to add 100 swap stations in central China's Hubei province
Related posts on CnEVPost
