Chinese electric-vehicle manufacturers NIO and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group are joining forces to expand battery-swapping and charging infrastructure, creating a partnership that the companies say could help reshape the country's rapidly evolving EV industry.
Under an agreement announced Monday, Geely Holding will acquire a 30% stake in NIO Power, NIO's battery-swapping and charging business. The deal is designed to combine the companies' infrastructure and accelerate the rollout of charging and battery-exchange facilities across China.
Geely will pay for the stake by contributing its entire equity interest in battery-swapping subsidiary Yiyi Power, along with 640 million yuan ($95 million) in cash. NIO said the transaction values NIO Power at approximately 16 billion yuan ($2.38 billion).
The agreement comes as China's EV manufacturers intensify competition over charging technology, with companies racing to reduce the amount of time drivers must spend recharging electric vehicles.
NIO has already developed more than 4,000 battery-swapping stations, where drivers can replace a depleted battery with a fully charged one in about three minutes. Geely Auto, a flagship affiliate of Geely Holding, last week unveiled charging technology it says can replenish an EV in about four minutes.
The two approaches reflect different strategies for solving one of the central challenges facing electric vehicles: reducing charging times and making infrastructure sufficiently widespread for drivers to use EVs with confidence.
NIO Power plans to have 10,000 battery-swap stations operating by 2030, with annual electricity demand expected to surpass 10 billion kilowatt-hours. Geely, meanwhile, aims to expand its charging network to more than 22,000 stations by the end of 2027.
The companies will also work together on common battery-swapping standards and compatible vehicle models, potentially making it easier for motorists to use infrastructure operated by different manufacturers.
The partnership comes amid a broader industry push to develop increasingly powerful charging networks. Rival BYD has been rolling out tens of thousands of high-speed charging stations as competition among Chinese EV manufacturers extends beyond vehicle design and pricing into infrastructure and energy technology.
NIO and Geely described their agreement as a potential new model for cooperation in China's automotive sector, with the companies seeking to build a denser and more dependable charging and battery-swapping network.
They also left the door open to participation by other automakers and industry players.
"The collaboration between NIO and Geely in charging and battery swapping is open to the broader industry. We welcome and look forward to more industry peers joining us," NIO CEO William Li said.
The transaction is structured as a two-way investment. While Geely will acquire a stake in NIO Power, NIO will also acquire a 10% equity interest in Geely's smart-charging subsidiary, Haohan Energy.
The reciprocal arrangement gives the two companies exposure to each other's infrastructure businesses while allowing them to cooperate on technologies and networks that could ultimately serve vehicles from a wider range of manufacturers.
Investors responded positively to the announcement, with NIO shares rising 3.2% on Monday, recovering some ground after declines in the previous two trading sessions.
The agreement highlights the growing importance of charging infrastructure in China's EV market, where automakers are increasingly competing not only over vehicle range, battery technology and price, but also over how quickly and conveniently drivers can replenish their vehicles' energy.
For NIO and Geely, the partnership represents an effort to scale that infrastructure more rapidly by combining their respective assets, while potentially laying the groundwork for a more interoperable battery-swapping and charging ecosystem across China's electric-vehicle market.