Nio Said To Be In Discussions With Rivals To License Its Flagship EV Battery-Swap Tech

Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) is in talks with several automakers for licensing its battery-swapping technology, Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing the electric vehicle maker’s European president Hui Zhang.

What Happened: Shanghai-based Nio is in talks with Chinese and international car groups to open its network of charging stations.

Nio estimates the number of power swap stations would increase to 5,000 by the middle of the decade, from over 800 now. 

The maker of ES8 SUVs aims to have 1,000 swapping stations outside China by 2025.

The company last month told analysts it plans to further expand into Europe and enter new markets, including Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark this year.

Why It Matters: Nio, which competes with Xpeng Inc (NYSE: XPEV), BYD Co (OTC: BYDDY) as well as global EV leader Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Volkswagen Group (OTC: VWAGY), is among early adopters of the battery-swapping service and has been aggressively scaling up the offering.

Battery swapping is still a niche EV energy solution compared with charging and is mostly used for fleet vehicles.

Tesla on the other hand has been scaling up its supercharging network. The EV maker has over 30,000 superchargers globally, of which over 8,000 are in China.

Price Action: Nio stock closed 8.7% higher at $23.8 a share on Monday.

Photo courtesy: Nio