Battery Swapping Service Now Supports Non-Flagship Brand Vehicles
Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer NIO announced on August 7 that vehicles from its affordable small-car brand Firefly have been officially integrated into its battery swapping service network. This marks the first time NIO’s swapping network has supported non-NIO flagship brand vehicles, further expanding its service coverage. On the same day, NIO simultaneously launched 5th-generation battery swapping stations in seven cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Hefei, Chengdu, and Quanzhou. The station located at Qiaoxiang Gymnasium in Quanzhou became the nation’s 4,000th battery swapping station and the first 5th-generation station.
NIO stated that Firefly is a premium-oriented small-car brand with vehicles that are smaller and more affordable than those from NIO or ONVO. Since small-car owners are more likely to live in apartments and lack dedicated charging facilities, battery swapping effectively addresses their charging inconveniences. Opening the swapping service to Firefly vehicles is expected to further increase the utilization and coverage of NIO’s swapping network.
Battery Swapping Network Continues to Expand
As of the morning of August 7, NIO’s battery swapping stations had completed a cumulative total of 120 million swaps, achieving this milestone just six months after reaching 100 million swaps on February 6. Currently, NIO has built 1,049 highway battery swapping stations across China, connecting nine north-south and 11 east-west traffic corridors, as well as 16 major city clusters, covering over 550 cities. Within urban areas, 80.1% of users have at least one battery swapping station within three kilometers of their home or workplace, indicating that NIO’s high-density swapping network has taken initial shape.