Nio and GAC will work together to establish a unified battery standard and jointly develop battery swap-enabled passenger cars and battery swap stations compatible with models from both brands.

(Image credit: Nio)

The Nio (NYSE: NIO) led battery swap alliance is seeing a new member, with Chinese auto giant GAC Group the latest to join.

Nio and GAC signed a strategic cooperation agreement on charging and battery swap on May 8 in Guangzhou, where the latter is headquartered, according to a statement today.

The two sides will carry out strategic cooperation in areas related to charging and swapping, including battery standards, vehicle R&D and customization, battery asset management and operations, swapping network development and operations, Nio's statement said.

In the meantime, the two companies will also promote the opening up of their respective charging platforms to each other, Nio added.

"The cooperation will amplify the two companies' respective strengths in technology and operations, and push forward the unification of battery standards and operational and management systems, so as to make swapping a more approachable solution, and provide users with experiences as hassle-free as refueling," said William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio.

Nio and GAC will work together to establish a unified battery standard and jointly develop battery swap-enabled passenger cars and battery swap stations compatible with models from both brands, according to the statement.

The two will push forward the launch of swappable vehicle models with batteries designed under the standards established by both, as well as advance the implementation of the swap station solution catering to both Nio and GAC vehicles.

They will also facilitate the opening up and interconnection of battery swapping networks that runs on a unified operational and management system, establish a larger, standardized, and unified power infrastructure network to achieve economies of scale, Nio said.

The partnership also includes a management system covering the lifecycle of power batteries is also within the cooperation plan, and so are an efficient management platform and an operating mechanism for battery assets.

Nio and GAC will realize dynamic data interconnectivity by the end of this month, making charging easier by enabling users to not only search for and navigate to a charger, but also start and pay for a charging session through the brands' apps, mini-programs, and power maps on center displays, according to the statement.

"Going forward, with the growing NEV population, battery swapping will unleash unlimited market opportunities, especially in cities. Because it actually solves a pain point for many users who don't have dedicated parking spots," said Feng Xingya, president of GAC Group.

"The strategic cooperation agreement that we signed today is also a foundation and guidance for our future cooperation. With it as a starting point, we hope to build more battery swap stations with which our GAC Aion users will have a better swapping experience," Feng added.

GAC, which once had a joint venture with Nio a few years ago, is the latest to join the Nio-led battery swap alliance, as the EV maker tries to build the model into a cloud-service-like project.

Nio sees its battery swap service as similar to a cloud service, and Li mentioned several times that the service has reached a point where it can be opened up to partners.

On November 21, 2023, Nio and Changan Automobile signed a battery swap business cooperation agreement, which will see the two companies collaborate on the construction and sharing of a battery swap network, and the development of battery swap-enabled models. Changan became the first external member of the Nio-led battery swap alliance.

On November 29 last year, Nio and Geely Holding signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly promote the development of standards for swappable batteries, the construction and sharing of battery swap networks, and the development of battery swap-enabled vehicles.

On January 11, JAC and Chery respectively reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Nio on battery swap, and will carry out strategic cooperation in battery standards, battery swap technology, and the construction and operation of battery swap service networks.

On April 25, Nio announced that it had entered into a strategic partnership on charging and battery swap with Lotus Technology, a luxury electric vehicle company majority owned by Geely Holding.

GAC was one of Nio's key partners six years ago.

On April 10, 2018, GAC and Nio formed a joint venture, GAC Nio, which was then 45 percent owned by GAC and its affiliated entities, and similarly 45 percent owned by Nio and its affiliated entities.

In 2019, GAC Nio released its first product, the Hycan 007, but after several years, GAC Nio was not successful in product development and the production model was not recognized by consumers.

In April 2021, GAC Nio changed its name to Hycan, removing "Nio" from the name.

In August 2022, the company underwent a change of shareholders, with Nio dropping out of the shareholder list. Prior to the change, Nio held a 4.46 percent stake in Hycan, according to CnEVPost's tracking.

GAC is another player in China's battery swap space, although it is far less well known in the space than Nio.

GAC's Hyper brand has battery swap-enabled models, such as the Hyper GT, which went on sale in July 2023.

Hyper is also building its own battery swap stations, saying last August that it had 14 such facilities. GAC built its first battery swap station in April 2022.

Nio confirms battery swap tie-ups with JAC, Chery