Nio signs deal to add 100 swap stations in central China's Hubei province
As of today, Nio has 2,589 battery swap stations in China and 92 in Hubei province.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) has entered into a new partnership agreement under its Power Up Partners program to add battery swap stations in central China's Hubei province.
The electric vehicle (EV) maker's power business, Nio Power, signed a cooperation agreement today with Wuhan Shouyi Scientific Innovation Investment Group that brings the Hubei company into the Power Up Partners program, according to an announcement from Nio today.
The two companies will build 100 stations in Hubei that will provide both battery swap and charging services, creating a denser energy replenishment network in the province, Nio said.
A signing ceremony was attended by Nio senior vice president Shen Fei and Wu Jiang, general manager of Wuhan Shouyi.
As of today, Shanghai-based Nio has 2,589 battery swap stations in China, 866 of which are located along highways, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
It has 2,403 supercharging stations in China, providing 11,010 charging piles, and 1,657 destination charging stations, providing 12,813 chargers.
In Hubei, Nio has 92 battery swap stations, as well as 48 supercharging stations offering 375 charging piles. It also has 59 destination charging stations in the province, providing 547 charging piles, and access to 45,262 third-party charging piles.
This is the first major partner Nio has secured for its Power Up Partners program since it was announced on August 20.
The company hopes to build charging and battery swap facilities with its partners to accelerate infrastructure development.
This is Nio's first major partnership since receiving an investment from Wuhan.
Nio announced on May 31 that Nio Power had received a RMB 1.5 billion ($210 million) investment from a strategic investor in Wuhan, marking the first time the unit has received outside investment to support its continued infrastructure push.
The financing will be used to advance research and development, manufacturing and operations in the areas of charging, battery swap, energy storage, battery services and energy internet, Nio said in a statement at the time.
Nio did not announce at the time the valuation of Nio Power in the financing, or the number of shares ceded.
On June 6, the company's management said in an earnings call that Nio held about 90 percent of the equity after Nio Power received its first external financing.
Nio Power was founded in May 2017 in Wuhan and was previously wholly owned by Nio Holding.
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