Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO said on Sept 28 it had signed a deal with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group on their battery-swopping and charging businesses, in a bid to jointly expand and improve their charging networks.
Under the deal, Geely Holding Group will acquire a 30% stake in NIO Power, NIO’s battery-swopping and charging unit, NIO said in a statement.
For the purchase, Geely will contribute its 100% equity in its battery-swopping subsidiary Yiyi Power, plus 640 million yuan (S$121 million) in cash. That transaction values NIO Power at about 16 billion yuan, according to NIO.
Chinese EV makers have been stepping up their battle for technological supremacy in ultra-fast charging, with Nio developing more than 4,000 battery-swop stations where a full battery replacement takes about three minutes, while Geely Auto, a flagship affiliate of Geely Holding Group, unveiled a 4-minute charging technology last week.
NIO Power aims to have 10,000 battery swop stations in operation by 2030, with annual electricity demand expected to exceed 10 billion kWh, while Geely plans to expand its network to over 22,000 charging stations by the end of 2027.
In an industry-wide race over fast EV charging, their rival BYD has been building tens of thousands of flash-charging stations.
Following the announcement, shares in NIO rose 3.2%, recovering from losses in the two previous sessions.
The companies touted their partnership as a new model in China’s car industry to build a denser and more reliable charging network to ease anxiety for EV drivers, leaving the door open for other peers to join.
The two companies will co-develop unified swopping standards and vehicle models, NIO said.
“The collaboration between NIO and Geely in charging and battery swopping is open to the broader industry. We welcome and look forward to more industry peers joining us,” NIO CEO William Li said.
As part of the deal, NIO will acquire a 10% equity stake in Geely’s smart charging subsidiary, Haohan Energy. REUTERS
