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Achievement has taken seven years, eight months, and 20 days since the swapping network was launched in 2018.
Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer NIO has reached a significant infrastructure milestone, completing its 100 millionth battery swap after 2,819 days of operations and investment exceeding 18 billion RMB ($2.5 billion USD).
The achievement represents a major validation of NIO’s battery swapping strategy, which began with the company’s first swap station opening on 20 May 2018 at Nanshan Science and Technology Park in Shenzhen.
NIO executives William Li and Shen Fei witnessed the milestone moment via livestream, with Shen announcing that ONVO owners would receive waived service fees for battery swaps during Chinese New Year as a celebration.
The transformation of NIO’s battery swapping technology demonstrates substantial progress since those early days, with initial stations only able to accommodate only four to five batteries, and today’s fourth-generation stations capable of storing 23 batteries per station and swapping a battery in just two minutes 24 seconds.
The brand’s fifth-generation stations are expected to begin production in Q2 this year.
Network expansion reaches 550 cities
NIO has deployed more than 3,700 swap stations across China, including over 1,000 positioned along highways, with the network covering what NIO calls the “9 Vertical, 11 Horizontal, and 16 Major City Clusters,” connecting 550 cities nationwide.
The company’s “County-to-County” initiative has achieved full coverage across nine provinces, with the network extending to remote routes including the famous G318 Sichuan-Tibet highway in 2025, significantly enhancing travel convenience for NIO vehicle owners in previously underserved areas. It also has 4,898 charging stations in China, providing 28,035 charging piles.
NIO’s first one million battery swaps took 29 months to achieve, with the ten millionth coming four years after the initial launch.
The fastest time between ‘ten million’ milestones was between the 80 million and 90 million marks, which took just 100 days, with the 100 million milestone being achieved 102 days after that.
Profitability milestone approaches
The 100 million swap milestone coincides with several positive developments for NIO, in particular the success of the ES8 which has delivered over 60,000 units, leading the luxury electric SUV segment priced above 400,000 RMB. Total vehicle production has also reached one million units.
Most significantly, NIO has issued a profitability forecast for Q4, anticipating adjusted operating profit between 700 million and 1.2 billion RMB, suggesting the company’s substantial infrastructure investment may be approaching a return on investment threshold.
The interconnected nature of these achievements indicates NIO’s battery swap network is transitioning from a cost centre to a strategic advantage, with the company’s “Chargeable, Swappable, Upgradable” philosophy gaining credibility through demonstrated stability and sustainability across massive usage volumes.
As NIO moves toward sustained profitability, the inherent advantages of battery swapping—convenience, safety, and sustainability—are becoming increasingly apparent to a growing audience of industry observers and potential customers.