William Li said that if Nio's plan to add 1,000 stations in China in 2024 is delayed, it could be by up to 1-2 months. The company is building a third battery swap station assembly plant in Wuhan.

Nio (NYSE: NIO) announced at the end of last year that it was aiming to add 1,000 more battery swap stations in China in 2024, but with the slow pace of progress so far this year, that goal could be delayed.

Nio is still working toward its goal of adding 1,000 new battery swap stations within the year and hasn't yet given up on that goal, William Li, the electric vehicle (EV) maker's founder, chairman and CEO, said yesterday.

If any setbacks may occur, there could be a delay of up to 1-2 months in reaching the target, Li said.

Li mentioned this yesterday in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, when asked if the company still maintains its goal of adding 1,000 new stations within the year at a user communication session celebrating Nio's cumulative deliveries of 100,000 vehicles in the city, according to a video seen by CnEVPost.

Nio's construction of battery swap stations has slowed down significantly this year, and as of today, it has added a cumulative total of just 135 stations so far this year, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.

For battery swap station construction, factory capacity, available sites, and funding are all factors of constraint, Li said at yesterday's event.

Nio recently started a project to build a new battery swap station assembly plant in Wuhan, Hubei province, which is expected to start production in September, Li said.

Once the Wuhan plant is completed, Nio will have three battery swap station assembly plants, with the other two in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, and Hefei, Anhui province, he said.

Nio's vehicles are currently manufactured at its F1 and F2 plants in Hefei.

For battery swap stations, site selection remains a big challenge, Li said, adding that Nio would like to build more battery swap stations along highways, for example, but that's not something that can be done just because it wants to.

Li called on Nio owners to help Nio find resources that could be used to build battery swap stations, including sites and power capacity.

Nio unveiled its fourth-generation battery swap station at its last Nio Day event on December 23, 2023, and announced the goal of adding 1,000 stations in 2024 in China.

The company had originally planned to add 400 battery swap stations in 2023, but later revised its target upwards to 1,000 and met it at the end of last year.

Nio only put its first fourth-generation battery swap stations into service on June 13, a new generation of stations that supports service for multi-brand vehicles with different battery pack sizes.

Its move to build a third battery swap station assembly plant in Wuhan may be linked to investment from a local government-backed fund.

Nio announced on May 31 that its energy arm, Nio Power, had received a RMB 1.5 billion ($207 million) strategic investment led by Wuhan Guangchuang Emerging Technology Venture Capital Fund Phase I, marking the first time the unit has received outside investment.

The company did not disclose the stake it ceded in Nio Power at the time, and Li said on a June 6 earnings call that Nio still owned about 90 percent of Nio Power after the financing.

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