Chinese EV maker Nio's first second-generation battery swap station will officially open on April 15 in the sub-center area of Beijing's Tongzhou district, Bitauto.com reported on March 3 citing unnamed sources.

According to the report, Nio's supplier estimates that the mass production price of a single battery swap station is around RMB 1.5 million ($230,000). Some customers and Nio staff have already worked together to experience the battery swap process, which takes 2-3 minutes.

At the end of last month, Auto Home reported that Nio's second-generation battery swap station has completed validation and started critical testing before deployment, which will begin in April.

William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio, and Nio president Qin Lihong have arrived to test, proving the importance the company places on the next-generation battery swap station, according to Auto Home.

Earlier this week, Bitauto.com quoted Shandong Weida Machinery Co. Ltd, a supplier of battery swap station solutions for Nio, as saying that the number of second-generation battery swap stations to be built by Nio this year is expected to exceed 300.

In January this year, Nio released its second-generation battery swap station, which optimizes the battery swap process by eliminating the lifting step and increasing the speed of battery swap.

The new generation battery swap station occupies four parking spaces and has a larger battery compartment. It can hold up to 13 batteries and has a daily service capacity of up to 312 times higher than the first-generation battery swap station.

It can be activated with a single touch on the vehicle's center screen, and the vehicle can be automatically parked in the battery swap station and automatically change the battery swap pool.

Qin mentioned in a presentation in January that this unattended feature provides the possibility for Nio to bring the battery swap model to developed markets in Europe and the US.

Bitauto.com's report on March 3 also mentioned that Nio would announce a strategic partnership agreement with Sinopec, without giving any further details.

But this is not surprising, because Zhang Yuzhuo, chairman of fossil fuel energy giant China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group), visited a Nio battery swap station during the Chinese New Year holiday, according to an article posted on Nio App by Nio Vice President of Power Management Shen Fei on Feb. 14.

Qin briefed Zhang on the construction and operation of the battery swap station, and they met after the Chinese New Year to work together for the advancement of the industry.

Zhang also had a brief chat with an Nio owner who came to the site for a battery swap.

At the end of last month, Li and Qin visited Sinopec, according to pictures circulating on the web. Local media reported that they exchanged and discussed on the development trend of electric industry, charging and battery swap facilities construction, and high-end synthetic materials.

(Screenshot of William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio, testing the second generation battery swap station.)