Shanghai (ZXZC)- NIO plans to complete the deployment of its “five vertical + seven horizontal expressways + four city clusters” battery swapping network before the Chinese New Year Holiday in 2022, the Chinese EV startup announced on Sept. 21.

NIO EC6; photo credit: NIO

The yet-to-be-completed network encompasses five north-south expressways (G1 Jingha, G2 Jinghu, G4 Jinggang'ao, G5 Jingkun, and G15 Shenhai), three east-west expressways (G30 Lianhuo, G50 Huyu, and G60 Hukun), as well as four city clusters (the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Chengdu-Chongqing dual-city region, according to NIO.

NIO's battery swapping system along the G1 Jingha expressway, which is composed of 10 battery swapping stations, commenced operations on September 20. Three stations are located in rest stops, and the other seven are nearby expressways’ off-ramps.

Spanning 1,229 kilometers in total, the G1 Jingha expressway passes through such cities as Beijing (the capital of China), Langfang, Tianjin, Tangshan, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang (the capital of Liaoning province), Changchun (the capital of Jilin province), and Harbin (the capital of Heilongjiang province).

As of today, NIO has built 484 battery swapping stations across the country, 99 of which are launched for expressways. According to the “NIO Power 2025” plan announced in July, by the end of 2025, NIO expects to have over 4,000 battery swapping stations worldwide with around 1,000 outside of China.

Moreover, NIO's current energy supply network also includes 341 supercharging stations and 515 destination charging stations.