NIO and GAC Group have signed a new strategic cooperation agreement on charging and swapping in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Through it, the Chinese OEMs will engage in comprehensive, in-depth, strategic cooperation in areas related to charging and swapping – including battery standards, vehicle R&D and customization, battery asset management and operations, swapping network development and operations.
The automakers will likewise promote the ‘opening up’ of their respective charging platforms to one other. William LI, Founder, Chairman and CEO of NIO, and Feng Xingya, President of GAC Group, attended the signing ceremony, while Fei SHEN, Senior Vice President of NIO Power, and Xia Xianqing, Vice President of GAC Group, signed the agreement on behalf of the two parties.
According to the agreement, NIO and GAC Group will work together to build a unified battery standard, jointly develop passenger vehicles with battery-swapping capabilities alongside battery swap stations compatible with models from both brands. These new vehicle models will be equipped with batteries designed under the standards established by both partners, and aim to advance the implementation of the swap station solution catering to both NIO and GAC vehicles. The two companies will also facilitate the launch and interconnection of battery swapping networks that run on a unified operational and management system, ultimately establishing a larger, standardized, and unified power infrastructure network to achieve economies of scale. A management system covering the lifecycle of power batteries is also within the cooperation plan, and so are an efficient management platform and an operating mechanism for battery assets.
Based on their own charging facilities, NIO and GAC Group will realize dynamic data interconnectivity by the end of this month, making charging easier by enabling users to not only search for and navigate to a charger, but also start and pay for a charging session through the brands’ apps, mini-programs, and power maps on center displays.
Embracing cooperation in charging and swapping technologies, as well as networks, NIO has partnered with Chang’an Automobile, Geely Holding Group, Chery Automobile, JAC Group, and Lotus for a standardized, unified power infrastructure network of broader coverage. Moreover, NIO has been engaged in comprehensive cooperation on swapping with companies in the energy sector, including SINOPEC, CNOOC, Shell, State Grid Corporation of China, China Southern Power Grid, Anhui Wenergy, and Zhong’an Energy, in the pursuit of a fast-developing battery swapping ecosystem, as well as more efficient and convenient recharging experiences.
