Nio plans to establish battery chargers and swap stations across every Chinese county.

• By June 2025, Nio, a Chinese electric car company, aims to set up battery charging stations in all 2,844 counties of China.
• The company aims to increase the number of its battery swap stations to over 2,300 in China by 2025.
• Nio's recent announcements regarding its Nio Power business were made following the company's earlier statement that a Wuhan city-linked fund had invested up to 1.5 billion yuan ($210 million) in the unit.

By June 2025, every county in China will have battery charging stations installed by a Chinese electric car company.

Nio plans to expand its battery swap stations to more than 2,300 counties in China by the end of 2025, with the aim of reaching the remaining counties with power swaps in 2026.

Nio aims to expand its battery charging and swapping stations as consumers continue to worry about the driving range of electric vehicles. Counties are the least developed jurisdictions in China, typically found in rural areas.

Nio's charging stations can be accessed by over 200 other car brands, and more than 80% of the electricity provided by Nio chargers goes to cars from other brands.

Chinese electric car companies are working to decrease the time drivers spend waiting at charging stations.

Geely-owned cars with new batteries can achieve an 80% charge in 10.5 minutes using the company's ultra-fast charging station, which is quicker than Tesla's advertised charging time for the Model 3.

The speed of replenishing a battery with Nio's fastest battery chargers was not immediately apparent.

Nio claims that with battery swapping, it can provide drivers of compatible cars with a charged battery in approximately three minutes using an automated system.

The company has intensified its strategic alliances with automakers including Chang'an and Geely in support of its battery swapping operations.

As of Aug. 20, Nio has over 23,000 charging stations and at least 2,480 battery swap stations. It has completed more than 51 million battery swaps.

In July, Nio drivers relied on battery swaps for more than half of their electricity usage. Additionally, more than one-fifth of the power used came from home chargers, with just 4.5% coming from Nio's public chargers.

A growing power business

Nio's latest announcements regarding its Nio Power business follow the company's earlier statement that a Wuhan city-linked fund led an investment round of up to 1.5 billion yuan ($210 million) in the unit. Despite the majority of Nio's revenue coming from vehicle sales, the power services segment experienced a 5.2% growth in the first quarter, reaching 1.53 billion yuan.

Nio has not yet disclosed the date for its second quarter earnings release, unlike last year when it made the announcement at the end of August.

The Chinese government is promoting the growth of the domestic electric car industry by supporting the establishment of a national battery charging network, as outlined in its latest "five-year plan" that began in 2021, which includes the installation of fast-charging stations in at least 60% of highway service areas.

In 2023, China reported having 8.6 million battery charging stations, which is a 65% increase from the previous year. This translates to one new charging station for every 2.4 new energy cars sold that year. Meanwhile, the number of new public charging stations grew by 42.7% to 929,000.

In 2023, the U.S. reported a 23.5% increase in the number of public EV charging stations, totaling 168,388.