NIO battery swap system benefits for electric vehicles

NIO founder and CEO Li Bin has highlighted the advantages of the company's battery swap system, emphasizing its role in developing sustainable infrastructure for electric vehicles. He noted that China's "Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Comprehensive Utilization of Retired Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles," developed with input from several government agencies, contains an important detail: the provision for "comprehensive vehicle and battery disposal" does not directly apply to vehicles with swappable batteries.

This is because, in the battery swap model, the vehicle and battery are legally and technically separate entities. The company itself is responsible for maintaining, monitoring, and ultimately recycling the batteries. Li Bin explained that this model allows for different lifespans between batteries and vehicles, while centralized recycling management by companies can improve efficiency and reduce resource waste.

According to Chinese media reports, NIO's system offers several benefits: a battery swap takes about three minutes, comparable to refueling; each battery undergoes diagnostic checks before installation; customers can choose between a compact battery for city driving or a higher-capacity one for longer trips; the vehicle and battery are separate, allowing purchase or rental options; the process is fully automated, with no need to exit the car; there's an extensive network of stations in cities and along highways; optimized charging extends battery life; the removable design simplifies recycling; and V2G technology helps smooth peak loads on the power grid.

On February 22, 2026, NIO's battery swap service set a new record with 177,627 operations in a single day. On average, each vehicle waited less than 30 seconds in queue before a swap.

To date, the company has built over 8,600 charging and swap stations nationwide, including more than 3,700 battery swap stations. Over 1,000 of these are located on highways. The network covers 550 cities across 16 major metropolitan areas, forming a large-scale transportation and energy infrastructure.

Overall, NIO continues to expand its ecosystem, focusing not just on service speed but also on managed battery recycling cycles.