Nio's swap network logs 130 million swaps, adding 10 million in under three months

Nio says its battery-swap network passed 130 million swaps, averaging over 110,000 a day since August, with 4,236 stations in China.

Nio passed 130 million cumulative battery swaps on Nov 3, 2026. The previous marker, 120 million, came on Aug 7, so the latest 10 million took 88 days. Daily swaps averaged more than 110,000 over that stretch. Nio says a vehicle from its Nio, Onvo or Firefly brands finished a swap and left a station every 0.77 seconds on average.

The network is growing at a steady pace. China swap stations rose from 4,006 to 4,236 in the period, a gain of 230. Nio also runs 5,556 charging stations with 32,261 piles, which makes 9,792 combined charging and swap sites. It reports that 84.5% of users now have a swap station within 3 km of home or work, up from 80.1% in August. It lists 1,077 highway swap stations linking 550 cities. Its first fifth-generation stations opened on Aug 7 in 7 cities. They handle different wheelbases, so all three brands, including Firefly for the first time, can use the same facilities.

For mobility, the pace is the point. The first 100 million swaps took 2,819 days, from the first Shenzhen station in May 2018 to Feb 6, 2026. The next 30 million came in under a year. Swapping moves the cost and wait of refuelling from the driver to shared infrastructure. Nio says cumulative swaps have delivered 6.89 billion kWh. It estimates they saved users about 110 million hours compared with charging.

Treat the figures with care. The time-saving estimate and the claim of the industry's largest network are Nio's own. The station and proximity numbers are company-reported and cover China only. Watch whether fifth-generation stations spread beyond the first 7 cities, and whether Nio reaches its goal of 100 scenic routes by the end of 2026. It has 92 now.

Source: CnEVPost