Nio, CATL Collaborating For Battery Swap Expansion

Nio, the world’s leading battery-swapping operator and CATL, the world’s largest EV battery supplier, are joining forces. Together, both seek to create the largest battery-swapping network in the world.

The two companies signed the agreement on March 17 in Ningde, Fujian Province - CATL’s headquarters. Their joint goal is to build the most advanced battery-swapping service network for passenger vehicles.

Beyond the network itself, they are also pushing for national battery-swapping standards in China to improve battery compatibility across different brands and models.

As a first step, Nio and CATL will share their battery-swapping networks to accelerate the adoption of this technology. CATL will support Nio in expanding its network, while its Choco-Swap battery swapping standard will be introduced to future models under Firefly.

In a further commitment to the partnership, CATL will invest up to RMB2.5 billion (RM1.5 billion) in Nio Power. CATL already holds an 11% stake in Wuhan Weineng Battery Asset Co., Ltd., which manages Nio’s battery-as-a-service (BaaS) business.

The ultimate vision for both companies eventually is to create a complete battery lifecycle ecosystem - battery R&D, swapping services, asset management, reutilization and material recycling. This will over time lower costs, improve efficiency and enhance safety.

Both Nio and CATL are aggressively expanding their battery-swapping networks. Nio already leads the market with nearly 3,200 Power Swap Stations across China, along with additional stations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

By June 30, Nio’s network will cover more than 1,200 county-level divisions across 14 provincial regions, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong. By year-end, this will expand to over 2,300 county-level divisions in 27 provincial regions.

CATL, meanwhile plans to build 1,000 Choco-Swap stations by 2025, expanding to 10,000 mid-term and 30,000 in the future.

Nio has already secured battery-swapping partnerships with major automakers - Changan, Geely, Chery, JAC Group, GAC Group, FAW Group and Lotus. CATL meanwhile has its own alliances, collaborating with nearly 100 partners - Changan, GAC Group, BAIC Group, Wuling and FAW Group.

The key questions now are how fast the Nio-CATL network can scale, how many compatible swappable models will emerge, and whether their stations will be cross-compatible across their partner ecosystems.

Additionally, CATL’s investment is a huge boost for Nio, especially as it struggles to meet delivery expectations for its brands. CEO William Li has already announced major cost-cutting measures as Nio pushes to break even by Q4 and aims for full profitability in 2026.

However, with BYD recently unveiling its “megawatt charging” technology - five minutes for over 400 KM of range charging ability, questions surface - does battery swapping still have a place in the future of EVs?

Xpeng and Volkswagen Group China announced plans to deploy over 20,000 superfast charging points in 420 cities. Li Auto is expanding its supercharger network from 1,900 to 4,000 stations this year.

ZEEKR meanwhile has built around 1,500 supercharging stations while Tesla’s Supercharger network continues to grow.

CATL’s Founder and CEO, Robin Zeng, predicts that by 2030, battery swapping, home charging and public charging will each account for about one-third of the market - battery swapping will serve as a valuable alternative to EV charging.

Source: CarNewsChina