After Changan, Geely, JAC may also join Nio's battery swap system, local media said.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

After Changan Automobile and Geely Holding, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC) may also join Nio's (NYSE: NIO) battery swap system, local media Cailian said in a report today.

The report didn't provide much more on JAC, but noted that Nio founder, chairman, and CEO William Li previously mentioned that the company was in talks with 4-5 companies for battery swap partnerships.

On November 21, Nio signed a battery swap business cooperation agreement with Changan, which will see the two companies collaborate on battery swap network construction and sharing, and the development of battery swap-enabled models.

On November 20, Li said in an employee communication that it would announce the first company to use its battery swap system on November 21, and that it was also in talks with four to five other companies for similar cooperation.

Earlier today, Nio signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Geely Holding, which will see the two companies work together to promote the development of standards for swappable batteries, the construction and sharing of battery swap networks, and the development of battery swap-enabled vehicles.

Notably, the partnership with Geely will involve the battery swap network serving both private and commercial vehicles, something that was not mentioned in Nio's partnership with Changan.

JAC is Nio's partner in vehicle manufacturing, and the two operate two factories together in Hefei, Anhui province -- the Nio F1 and F2 plants.

Nio's partnerships with Changan and Geely in a short period of time were driven both internally by the company and by policy, Cailian reported today.

Within Nio, the company reported a net loss of RMB 6.056 billion in the second quarter, widening further from RMB 4.74 billion in the first quarter.

Opening up the battery swap ecosystem to amortize costs and thus reduce liquidity risk has become an issue that Nio needs to focus on, Cailian's report noted.

In terms of external factors, the battery swap model, one of the key energy replenishment methods for new energy vehicles (NEVs), is being driven by policy, the report said.

China released an outline of a strategic plan for expanding domestic demand in December 2022 covering the period 2022-2035, which included battery swap stations in the country's strategic development plan, the report noted.

In July this year, China's measures on promoting automobile consumption also mentioned that the country would accelerate the promotion of the battery swap model, the report said.

Under the influence of policies, in addition to Aulton, which has previously been building battery swap stations, power battery giant CATL has also launched its EVOGO brand, which offers battery swap services.

On October 28, Joe Xia, CEO of Baidu-backed EV brand Jiyue, said the company will work with CATL in a number of areas, including battery swap, the report noted.

In addition, a sub-brand of SAIC Motor also has a battery swap business, the report added.

On Nio and Geely's partnership, the two have not been able to agree on battery standards, which means their models are not yet able to use their respective battery packs, the Cailian report noted.

However, the two sides have communicated on the battery standards for the NT 3.0 platform to be launched by Nio, and it is possible that the battery pack standards could be agreed upon at that time, the report said, citing an industry source.

Jack Liu, CEO of Yiyi Power, operator of Geely Holding's battery swap station, and Shen Fei, Nio's vice president of energy, signed the agreement on behalf of the two companies today.

The two will work together to create a standardized battery swap system for private and commercial vehicles, and expand the scale of the battery swap network to serve customers with different needs, Nio said in a press release.

According to a preliminary agreement between the two companies, Yiyi Power's new battery swap stations will be built adjacent to Nio's stations in the future, which will complement the resources of the two companies, the Cailian report said, citing people with knowledge of the partnership.

The proximity of the two companies' battery swap stations will facilitate the sharing of personnel and reduce operating costs, the people said.

Factbox: Nio's partnership with JAC explained in detail