Nio's new battery swap station in Zhengzhou, a city in central China, went into operation on August 4, bringing the total to 345 in the country.

This is a move by Nio to build up local energy replenishment facilities after the city was hit by a rare rainstorm and flooding late last month.

The station is Nio's fifth second-generation battery swap station in the city and the seventh battery swap station there, located in the parking lot of a start-up center in the high-tech district.

The second-generation battery swap station has a capacity of 13 batteries and can provide up to 312 services per day. Cars can be parked automatically and the battery swap can be completed within 3-5 minutes.

As of August 4, Nio has 345 battery swap stations, 234 supercharging stations, 424 destination charging stations, and access to over 390,000 third-party charging posts in China.

With 400,000 vehicles damaged by flooding in Zhengzhou, consumer demand for replacement vehicles is attracting the attention of car companies, including Nio.

Between July 20 and Aug. 31, consumers in Henan province who pay a deposit for an Nio model can enjoy a 3-year interest-free entitlement of RMB 300,000 ($46,425) and down payments as low as 15 percent, eoo.com.cn quoted the company as saying Tuesday.

Other consumers who currently buy Nio vehicles with installment payments have an annualized interest rate of 2.99 percent for three years.

For consumers whose vehicles were damaged in the flood, they will receive an additional one-year "Service Free" benefit if they trade in their old vehicles for Nio vehicles.

No other car companies have yet announced plans to offer discounted purchase benefits to customers in Zhengzhou.

In July, Nio opened 40 battery swap stations, 33 supercharging stations and 47 destination charging stations.

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% of customers within a 3 km radius of a battery swap station.