- Nio has teamed up with Future Science City Group in Beijing to jointly build 100 battery swap stations.
- This is the second partnership Nio has announced with a state-owned enterprise to build 100 battery swap stations.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) has teamed up with a state-owned enterprise backed by Beijing's Changping district government to build 100 battery swap stations.
The electric vehicle (EV) maker signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Future Science City Group in Beijing to cooperate in areas including the construction of a green energy battery swap network, Nio co-founder and president Li Hong Qin said today.
The two companies plan to build 100 green energy battery swap stations, starting with Changping district in Beijing, Qin said in a statement released on the Nio App today.
"Last week, we reached a strategic cooperation with CATL on battery swapg to build the world's largest battery swap network. Today, we have the support of Future Science City," Qin said.
Next, there are more projects related to Nio Power and the construction of battery swap network, he said.
Future Science City is 86.06 percent owned by the Changping District State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission in Beijing, with the minority shareholders being two government-related enterprises owned by the Changping district government, according to a report by Fitch Ratings in April 2024.
Between 2019 and 2023, Future Science City received government funding of about RMB 50 billion, according to the report.
The company plays an important role in urban infrastructure construction for the Changping district government, Fitch said, affirming the company's BBB debt rating with a stable outlook.
This is the second partnership Nio has announced with a state-owned enterprise to build 100 battery swap stations.
On October 23, 2024, Nio Power, Nio's energy business, signed a cooperation agreement with Wuhan Shouyi Scientific Innovation Investment Group, a Hubei state-owned enterprise that joined Nio's Power Up Partners program.
The two sides would jointly build 100 stations in Hubei that can provide both battery swap and charging services, making the province's energy replenishment network more dense, Nio said at the time.
Nio announced the Power Up Partners program on August 20, 2024, hoping to work with partners to build charging and battery swap facilities to accelerate infrastructure construction.
The program saw the signing of the first batch of partners on the day of the announcement.
With the Power Up Partners program, Nio hopes to save capital expenditure while advancing the construction of battery swap stations by providing partners with a source of income.
Nio founder, chairman and CEO William Li said in an interview with a local media outlet earlier this month that the funding for the construction of Nio's battery swap stations this year would mainly come from partners. "Others will build the stations, and we will rent them for use and operation, and we will move forward according to this model."
Under this approach, partners can make money and Nio also saves capital expenditure, Li said in the interview on March 23.
As of now, Nio has 3,196 battery swap stations and 25,780 chargers in China.
Nio also announced the Power Up Counties program in August last year, with the goal of having its battery swap station network cover all 2,300-plus counties in 27 provincial-level administrative regions by December 31, 2025.
It also aims to have its charging network cover all county-level administrative regions in China by June 30, 2025.
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