Nio will waive service fees for car owners using its swap stations along highways during the upcoming National Day holiday, rather than waiving both service and electricity fees as it had previously done.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Nio (NYSE: NIO) will continue to encourage car owners to use its battery swap stations along highways during China's upcoming long holiday season, though the benefits offered will be scaled back as the company appears to be placing more emphasis on saving money.

During the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays in China, Nio's battery swap stations along highways will waive service fees for owners, the electric vehicle (EV) maker announced today on its mobile app.

The dates covered by the entitlement are September 28 to October 7. The upcoming holiday season is from September 29 to October 6, with October 7 and October 8 being work days despite being weekends.

The cost of Nio's battery swap stations for vehicle owners consists of two parts, including electricity and service fees. The service fee is usually between RMB 30 ($4) and RMB 50 per visit, while the electricity fee is often around RMB 1.5 per 1 kWh used.

The company allowed car owners to use battery swap stations along highways for free during the Chinese New Year holiday at the beginning of this year, as well as during the Labor Day holiday in early May. The benefits for the upcoming National Day period have been scaled back from what was previously offered.

Nio today added 24 new battery swap stations in China, bringing the total number of facilities in the country to 1,877, and 546 of them are along highways, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

The company aims to see its number of battery swap stations in China reach 2,300 by the end of this year, with 1,000 of those added this year.

Nio announced its new vehicle pricing strategy on June 12, lowering the prices of its entire lineup by RMB 30,000 yuan and making the previously free battery swap service a paid option. The option is no longer available as of August.

In addition to continuing to offer the benefit of battery swap stations along highways during the holidays, Nio is also encouraging owners to upgrade their 70/75-kWh standard-range battery packs to the 100-kWh long-range version before the holidays.

Nio's vehicles support battery swap, making flexible battery upgrades possible. The company announced on September 5 details of discounts owners can receive for temporarily upgrading their battery packs.

The company also put 13 supercharging stations into operation today, taking the total number to 1,769 and offering 8,530 charging piles.

Nio today put four new destination charging stations into operation, bringing the total to 1,387 and offering 10,024 charging piles. Its charging map in China has access to 890,614 third-party charging piles.

About 80 percent of the power provided by Nio's charging piles is used by other brands of EVs, the company's management previously said.

Nio's charging business is no longer continuing to lose money, and it's one of the few businesses the company doesn't lose money on, its founder, chairman, and CEO William Li said at the Nio IN 2023 innovation day event on September 21.

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