Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Exeed, a sub-brand of China’s Chery Auto, will release the first battery swap-compatible models outside of Nio’s own lineup in the third quarter of this year, the carmaker announced on Thursday.
The announcement makes Exeed the first external automaker to launch vehicles compatible with Nio’s battery swap stations. The two models—a sedan and an SUV—have already undergone testing with the battery swap process at a Nio station in China.
Here’s the video of the tests done by upcoming Exeed sedan.
At Nio’s fourth-generation stations, drivers can replace their vehicle’s battery with one that is approximately 90-95% charged in just three minutes.
The alliance aims to expand the adoption of its battery-swapping technology across the EV market helping the Shanghai-based company to become, together with the battery giant CATL, one of the leaders in the technology.
The Exeed brand, launched by Chery in 2017 and aimed at the luxury segment, sold 12,521 vehicles in December, and a total of 140,959 units in 2024.
Across all the brands, Chery sold 298,505 vehicles in December, up 38.4% year over year.
In December, Nio founder and CEO William Li said that the first model under the alliance is undergoing winter testing. Li added that the development timeline for a battery swap-enabled vehicle is approximately 18 months.
Over the past year, Nio has announced several partnerships under its battery swap alliance but has not provided specific launch timelines for the first models from these partners. The alliance includes major automakers such as Chery, Geely Holding, Changan Automobile, GAC Group, FAW Group, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC), and Lotus Technology.
The Geely-Baidu joint venture Jidu, also known as Jiyue, became the eighth member of the alliance in September 2024. However, the company is currently in financial trouble and fighting for survival.
Just before the year end, Nio filed a patent for a new expandable battery swap station system where a modular extension unit that can be attached to existing battery swap stations, increasing the number of batteries available. The current fourth generation stations can store up to 23 batteries.
Nio has been upgrading its third-generation battery swap stations in China to accommodate vehicles from its second brand, Onvo. While Nio vehicles use 75kWh batteries for standard range, 100kWh for long range, and 150kWh for ultra-long range, Onvo vehicles are equipped with either 60kWh or 85kWh batteries.
In December alone, Nio added 254 battery swap stations and 125 charging stations. Of its over 3,000 swap stations, more than 950 are located along highways. The company’s charging network, which is accessible to several other new energy vehicle (NEV) brands, now features 25,033 chargers.
In China, the company has provided more than 62 million battery swaps in the last six years. Eyeing the production ramp up in China—but also globally— Nio has recently started mass production at its recently opened factory in Wuhan.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
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