NIO and Geely Holding strike cross-investment deal covering battery swapping and charging networks

The agreement and what changed

NIO Inc. announced on 27 September 2026 that it had entered definitive agreements with certain subsidiaries of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group for a strategic transaction in battery swapping and charging businesses, subject to regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions. The agreement documents were exchanged in Hangzhou on 28 September by Stanley Qu, NIO's CFO and Head of NIO Power, and Ron DAI Qing, Rotating President of Geely Holding Group, witnessed by NIO founder William Li and Geely Holding Group CEO Andy AN Conghui. ²¹

NIO's newsroom statement describes the deal as broad cooperation across technology, operations and capital, with the two sides jointly investing in their charging and battery swapping businesses, sharing technologies and standards, and developing a shared service network. Xinhua reported Geely's confirmation of the agreement on 28 September, citing a company statement. ¹³

NIO Power: valuation, stake structure and conditions

Under the definitive agreements, a Geely Holding Group subsidiary will contribute its holding of 100 per cent of the equity of Yiyi Internet Technology (Chongqing) Co., Ltd., which provides battery swapping services for the commercial mobility market, plus RMB 640 million in cash to subscribe for newly issued equity of NIO Power, the NIO subsidiary operating battery swapping and charging. NIO's investor relations release values NIO Power at a post-money valuation of approximately RMB 16 billion. ²

Upon completion, the Geely subsidiary will hold 30.0 per cent of NIO Power, NIO China will retain a controlling 63.6 per cent, and existing investor Wuhan Guangchuang Emerging Technology Phase I Venture Capital Fund will hold the remaining 6.4 per cent, according to NIO's investor release. The Geely stake is subject to post-closing adjustments tied to operational milestones and may be reduced to no less than 20 per cent in the event of underperformance. The Geely subsidiary also holds an option, exercisable within the earlier of two years after closing or when NIO Power enters binding agreements for a new financing round, to invest a further RMB 640 million in cash, which would lift its stake to 34.0 per cent and reduce NIO China's holding to 60.0 per cent, absent any post-closing adjustment. ²

Yiyi Power's battery swapping business for commercial mobility services will be integrated into NIO Power after completion, and NIO Power will continue to optimise its swapping network for commercial fleets, supporting Yiyi Power's commercial mobility business, per NIO's newsroom announcement. Reuters, in a report carried by CNA, put the cash component at about 95 million US dollars and the post-money valuation at about 2.38 billion US dollars, using an exchange rate of 6.7128 yuan to the US dollar. ¹⁵

Haohan Energy and interconnected charging

Concurrently with the NIO Power transaction, NIO China has agreed to subscribe for newly issued equity of Zhejiang Haohan Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Geely's charging subsidiary, with the cash consideration to be used to purchase certain charging assets from NIO. Upon completion, NIO China will hold 10.0 per cent of Haohan Energy, according to NIO's investor relations release. ²

The two sides will fully connect their charging infrastructure, jointly expanding coverage and improving operational efficiency, NIO's newsroom statement says. Geely's Haohan Energy has deployed 2,500 charging stations with more than 12,000 charging connectors across 232 cities in China, per NIO's announcement, which also notes Geely launched its next-generation AI-powered charging technology on 23 September 2026. ¹

By the end of 2027, Geely plans to build more than 22,000 charging stations with more than 100,000 charging connectors, including more than 15,000 smart charging stations with over 50,000 smart charging connectors, with the stated goal of being the first in the industry to achieve full coverage of county-level cities in China, according to NIO's announcement of the partnership. ¹

Shared swapping standards and consumer models

The two companies will co-develop unified battery swapping technologies and standards for consumer-facing vehicle models. Geely Holding Group will develop consumer-facing battery-swappable vehicle models, with NIO Power providing swapping services for those models, per NIO's newsroom announcement. ¹

NIO's investor release describes these as preliminary plans for the adoption of battery swapping technology and related services for consumer-facing models and commercial mobility businesses from Geely-related entities, with finalisation and implementation subject to further discussions between the relevant parties. Yiyi Power is also expanding into green and intelligent mobility hubs, automated battery swapping for robotaxis, and smart transportation-energy integration, according to NIO's announcement. ²¹

Network scale, targets and policy context

As of 27 September 2026, NIO had invested more than RMB 20 billion in charging and battery swapping technologies and infrastructure, per its announcement. Its network comprised 9,433 swapping and charging stations across China, including 4,126 Power Swap Stations and 5,307 charging stations with 30,598 charging piles, and it has provided more than 220 million charging and swapping services, including over 125 million battery swaps. NIO Power aims to have 10,000 Power Swap Stations in operation by 2030, with annual electricity demand across the network expected to exceed 10 billion kWh. ¹

NIO founder and CEO William Li framed the deal as a step toward addressing what the companies call involution-style competition, saying the charging and swapping collaboration is open to the broader industry, per the newsroom statement. Andy AN Conghui of Geely Holding Group said recharging networks are public infrastructure that should be built together and connected across networks, according to the same announcement. ¹

Global Times reported that the partnership supports the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for the Intelligent Connected New Energy Vehicle Industry, released on 11 September by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and eight other departments, which calls for accelerating the improvement of charging and battery-swap infrastructure and continuously enhancing service efficiency. Global Times also quoted Wang Peng of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences describing the deal as a shift from fragmented carmaker-owned networks toward shared industry infrastructure, potentially providing a model for wider cooperation. Xinhua separately noted the plan targets new energy passenger vehicles at 70 per cent of new vehicle sales by 2030, with China's NEV sales reaching a record 60.6 per cent of monthly new car sales in August. ⁴³

Cumulative NIO Inc. deliveries reached 1,260,485 vehicles as of 1 September 2026, per the company's announcement, which brands NIO, ONVO and firefly under its umbrella. Global Times reported the January pledge by regulators to resist disorderly price wars, positioning infrastructure integration as an alternative path of asset collaboration over separate builds. ¹⁴