Nio’s 3,994th battery swap station in China began operations on August 3. Credit: Nio
- The new station is compatible with all three brands — Nio, Onvo and Firefly — with the compact Firefly joining the swap network for the first time.
- Nio plans to add more than 1,000 battery swap stations in 2026.
Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) will put its first fifth-generation battery swap station into operation on August 7 in Quanzhou, Fujian province, a site that will also be the electric vehicle (EV) maker’s 4,000th swap station in China.
Ma Lin, Nio’s vice president of branding and communications, revealed the date on Weibo on Monday. He said on August 1 that the first fifth-generation station would go live in early August, but did not give a specific date at the time.
The station will support battery swaps for users of all of the company’s three brands — Nio, Onvo and Firefly, Ma emphasized.
The fifth-generation swap station is a key upgrade to Nio’s swap system. It uses a rebuilt underlying architecture that can accommodate a wider range of vehicle wheelbases.
That means the flagship SUV (sport utility vehicle) ES9, which is 5.3 meters long, and the Firefly EV, at just 4.003 meters, can share the same swap mechanism.
Firefly cars were previously unable to use Nio’s existing swap stations because its wheelbase was too short. As fifth-generation stations roll out, Nio Inc will achieve its goal of having its three brands share the swap network.
Firefly began internal testing at fifth-generation pioneer stations in late June in six cities: Shanghai, Beijing, Hefei, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Kunshan. Nio has said large-scale deployment will begin in the third quarter.
As of August 3, Nio had built 9,149 power sites in China, including 3,994 swap stations and 5,155 charging stations with 29,781 chargers. The company has provided more than 110 million cumulative battery swaps.
Nio has maintained its target of adding more than 1,000 swap stations in 2026. Meeting that goal increasingly depends on partnerships, as the company has slowed its own construction pace over the past two years to control capital spending.
Nio added 679 swap stations in 2024 and 681 in 2025, according to data compiled by CnEVPost. In June, Nio Power signed an agreement with Zhongan Energy to jointly build 500 swap stations within a year.
The software update boosts the peak motor power of older Firefly EVs to 120 kW, aligning with the updated Firefly EV.
