NIO Connects High-Speed Battery-Swap Network between Chengdu-Chongqing

On Wednesday, electric vehicle maker NIO started up its battery-swap station in Longxihe Service Area, a signal that NIO has now begun its battery-swap network along the highways between Chengdu and Chongqing, two southwest cities in China.

The network incorporates Chengdu and Chongqing as its center and involves 20 battery-swap stations through Ya’an, Zigong, Mianyang, and Dujiangyan. NIO vehicle drivers are able to charge up when driving between these two cities.

The network covers 10 major expressways in the area and all stations feature service areas, business districts and tourist attractions along the highways.

On March 27th, NIO connected its battery-swap network on the G30 Lian-Huo Expressway, starting from Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province to Baoji, Shaanxi Province by setting up 9 battery-swap stations. The G30 has a total length of 4,398 km, starting from Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province in the east and Khorgas, Xinjiang in the west.

As of March 30th, NIO has built 881 battery-swap stations (including 235 on expressways), 722 supercharging stations, 4,018 supercharging piles, 679 destination charging stations, 3,803 destination charging piles and over 480,000 third-party charging piles.

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Battery-swap mode has also regained its popularity as the Chinese government has been encouraging the promotion and application of the feature. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched a pilot application of the battery-swap mode for new energy vehicles in 11 cities, while industry giants such as CATL and Geely joined the game. Compared to charging, battery-swap is a superior transfer format in that it can achieve rapid power replenishment, battery upgrade, battery health testing, rapid battery pack recycling, and flexible battery-swap for users in a much quicker time turnaround.