Nio president calls on more players including Dongfeng, BAIC, Huawei's HIMA to join the battery swap camp to better address battery life issues.

Nio (NYSE: NIO) co-founder and president Qin Lihong called on more companies, including Huawei, to join the battery swap alliance it leads to better address battery life issues with electric vehicles (EVs).

Solving battery life issues is urgent, just as the society is going to face the issue of an aging population that needs to be prepared for well in advance, Qin said in a speech today at the China Auto Bluebook Forum 2024, according to a live replay seen by CnEVPost.

Solving the problem is not something that Nio or any other company can accomplish on its own solo effort; it requires the cooperation of the entire industry, he said.

Qin called on more partners to join the Nio-led battery swap alliance to provide better solutions for society as a whole as well as for individual users.

Since November 2023, several companies have already joined the camp, Qin said.

"I'm particularly looking forward to that our more experienced peers and role models to learn from, whether it's Dongfeng, BAIC, Huawei's HIMA (Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance), could join the camp," he said.

"We can research and develop together, operate together, and invest together to solve the problems common to all users. Because by 2032, the number (of batteries with expired warranties) will be around 20 million," said Qin.

He mentioned that Nio users don't need to worry about battery life as Nio will replace them when they reach the end of their life cycle and users just need to use them as normal.

Nio sees its battery swap service as similar to a cloud service and has mentioned frequently over the past two days that the service has reached a point where it can be opened up to partners.

On November 21, 2023, Chongqing Changan Automobile partnered with Nio on the battery swap service, marking the first external partner for the latter's signature replenishment network.

On May 22, China FAW Group became the seventh to join the alliance. The other five automakers that have entered into similar partnerships with Nio are Geely Holding Group, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC), Chery, Lotus, and GAC Group.

Huawei is not a car company, but its HIMA business is becoming more influential in China's automotive industry.

HIMA is one of several ways Huawei has partnered with car companies, and it's the tech giant's deepest involvement. The model, previously known as Zhixuan, was upgraded in November 2023 to HIMA.

As of now, brands under the HIMA umbrella include Aito, built by Huawei and Seres, Luxeed, built by Huawei and Chery, and Stelato, built by Huawei and BAIC.

HIMA's available models include the Aito M5, Aito M7, Aito M9, and Luxeed S7, which delivered a total of 30,578 units in May, an increase of 3.19 percent from April, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.

Nio's William Li urges more focus on battery life as warranties expire on nearly 20 million NEVs over next 8 years