Nio had raised the price of daily battery upgrades for February a few days ago. February 10-17 is the Chinese New Year holiday.

(Image credit: Nio)

Nio (NYSE: NIO) is encouraging owners of vehicles with 100-kWh long-range battery packs to share their batteries as the Chinese New Year travel rush approaches.

Between January 20 and February 20, owners can earn bonus points if they swap their 100-kWh packs for the 70/75-kWh standard-range packs at battery swap stations, according to a January 20 post on the Nio App.

February 10 is the first day of the 2024 Chinese Lunar New Year, and legal holidays are February 10-17. February 4 and February 18 will be work days, even though they are Sundays.

Between January 20-31, owners who share long-range battery packs will receive 200 Nio Credits, worth RMB 20 ($2.8), and 2 Nio Points per day.

From February 1-20, the daily reward will increase to 300 Nio Credits and the 2 Nio Points will remain the same.

If an owner participates in the program for 20 consecutive days between February 1-20, he or she can earn additional random rewards up to a maximum of 18,888 Nio Credits.

This means that owners can earn up to 27,288 Nio Credits, worth RMB 2,728.8, if they participate in the program in its entirety.

Nio's points system consists of Nio Credits, which can be used to make purchases at the Nio Life online store, and Nio Points, which can't be used to make purchases but give owners access to some privileges in its community.

Nio's vehicles support battery swap, allowing for flexible battery upgrades and downgrades. Battery packs currently circulating on the company's battery swap network include standard-range versions with 70/75-kWh capacities, as well as 100-kWh long-range versions.

The electric vehicle (EV) maker allows owners to upgrade their standard-range battery packs to long-range on a daily, monthly, or annual basis, as well as permanently.

Prior to the launch of the flexible battery upgrade program in December 2021, 50 percent of customers opted for the standard-range battery pack when they purchased a Nio vehicle, and the other 50 percent opted for the long-range version, William Li, Nio's founder, chairman, and CEO, said at the December 23 Nio Day 2023 event.

However, by November 2023, 95 percent of customers choose the standard-range battery pack when purchasing a Nio vehicle, while only 5 percent choose the long-range, Li said.

The Lunar New Year holiday is usually accompanied by a spike in travel for the Chinese public, and last week, Nio temporarily raised the rental fee for next month's daily battery upgrade.

Between February 1-17, Nio owners will pay RMB 88 a day for a daily battery pack upgrade, up from RMB 50 a day previously.

On February 18, at the end of the holiday, the daily rate for the battery upgrade will drop back down to RMB 50 per day.

This series of moves by Nio will allow owners who don't have a need for long distance travel during the upcoming holiday season to get some returns by sharing their battery packs, while those who do have such a need will be able to get their vehicles to increase their range temporarily.

($1 = RMB 7.1944)

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