On November 21, 2023, Changan Automobile and NIO signed the partnership agreement on battery swapping in Chongqing. The two parties will jointly facilitate the formulation of standards for swappable batteries, build and share the battery swapping network, develop swappable vehicles, and establish an efficient battery asset management mechanism.
Huarong ZHU, Chairman and Party Secretary of Changan Automobile, and William LI, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of NIO held a dialogue and witnessed the signing of the agreement. The signing ceremony was also attended by Jun WANG, President of Changan Automobile, Hui WANG, Vice President of Changan Automobile, Chenghao DENG, General Manager of Deepal Automobile, Lihong QIN, Co-Founder and President of NIO, and Fei SHEN, Senior Vice President of NIO.
Expanding the recharging network sits at the core of the development of the smart electric vehicle industry. It’s proven that battery swap is a quick, efficient, and sustainable recharging solution to smart electric vehicles. Since 2020, multiple authorities in China have released documents and guidelines, such as the NewEnergy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035), the Implementation Plan for Further Enhancing the Service Capability of Charging and Swapping Infrastructure, and theNotice on Launching Pilot Program of Swappable New Energy Vehicles, in an effort to promote the establishment of battery swapping network and standards, encourage wider adoption of the battery swapping model, as well as support the formulation of standards for the battery swapping architecture on the battery electric vehicles, universal battery swapping platform, and swappable batteries, which will help maximize resource utilization. The partnership between Changan Automobile and NIO is a specific practice in line with these guidelines.
As one of the top four automobile groups in China, Changan Automobile boasts an industrial history stretching back 161 years. With 39 years of experience in vehicle production, the company operates 12 manufacturing bases and 22 factories worldwide. As one of the representative automotive companies from China, Changan Automobile owns various homegrown brands, including Changan, Deepal, Avatr and Kaisheng, and has joint venture brands such as Changan Ford, Changan Mazda and JMC. As of October 2023, cumulative sales of these brands had totaled 25.3 million units. In 2017, Changan Automobile released the Project Shangri-La, with which the company has been expanding its new energy vehicle business and accelerating the establishment of its culture, efficiency and software capabilities as core competitiveness for a smart, low-carbon mobility and technology company.
NIO is a leading smart electric vehicle company, and the world’s largest operator of battery swapping network for smart electric vehicles. So far, it has over 2,100 Power Swap Stations up and running worldwide. In 2023, NIO plans to install 1,000 new stations in China. As of November 20, NIO had provided over 32 million battery swaps for users. Enabled by more than 1,600 related patents, NIO Power Swap features an innovative system, unrivaled experience, openness, and business sustainability.
“As NIO started battery swap from the very beginning, it has been ready to open up its technologies and infrastructure to the entire industry. Similar to the cloud service provided by Internet companies, NIO’s Power Swap network and Power Cloud also followed the path along which we started with developing infrastructure and achieving a closed loop internally, and then open to others after validating the service across various scenarios.” said William LI, Founder, Chairman and CEO of NIO, “Over the past five years of development, NIO has accumulated rich experience in research and development, construction and operations of Power Swap Stations, and is ready to open to the entire industry. As a leading automotive company in China, Changan Automobile has demonstrated great determination and strong execution in electrification and transformation. With this partnership, NIO and Changan Automobile will jointly contribute to the development and transformation of the industry.”
“As China is doubling down on new energy and smart connected vehicles, the implementation of NIO’s battery swapping model marks a significant milestone for the industry,” said Huarong ZHU, Chairman of Changan Automobile, “The partnership between Changan Automobile and NIO on battery swap is of great importance, contributing to the high-quality development of China’s new energy vehicle industry. This partnership with NIO won’t be limited to battery swap. We will continuously strengthen our cooperation in other platform and fundamental areas, including energy, charging and swapping, vehicle development, and ecosystem, so as to jointly promote the high-quality development of the industry and build a sound, shared and mutually beneficial ecosystem.”
SOURCE: NIO
