- Starting April 1, Shanghai will subsidize 40 percent of equipment investments in battery swap stations open to other brands for a period of five years.
- Shanghai is the latest city after Hefei to offer support for the battery swap sector.
Shanghai, where Nio (NYSE: NIO) has its global headquarters, will subsidize the construction of battery swap stations in the city, becoming the latest local government to provide support to the electric vehicle (EV) maker.
The eastern Chinese city will subsidize the construction of charging and battery swap facilities in the city starting April 1, according to a policy made public today that will be valid for five years.
Specifically, Shanghai will offer a 40 percent equipment investment subsidy, excluding batteries, for general-purpose battery swap stations -- those that can support different brands and serve different models.
For battery swap stations that are not open to other brands, the subsidy will be 20 percent of the equipment investment amount, excluding batteries.
Additionally, Shanghai will subsidize the amount of power used by battery swap stations, capped at RMB 600 ($83) per kW for general-purpose stations and RMB 300 per kW for non-general-purpose stations.
The city also subsidizes cab drivers using battery swap-enabled vehicles up to a maximum of RMB 200 per month, but requires such vehicles to be recharged primarily through battery swap stations. Subsidies for cab drivers are only valid in 2025.
This is the first time in the past few years that Shanghai has significantly subsidized battery swap facilities, and makes the city the second local government this month to provide support for the sector.
On March 6, Hefei, Anhui province -- the city where Nio's two factories are located -- announced exclusive purchase subsidies of up to RMB 10,000 for battery swap-enabled models.
The brief announcement from the Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone didn't mention details about the subsidy, though it appears to be aimed solely at supporting Nio.
Nio is currently almost the only automaker offering battery swap-enabled models to general consumers, with its battery swap stations available for models under the main Nio brand as well as sub-brand Onvo, and in the future Firefly.
Some other car companies, including GAC Aion, have previously offered similar models, but they have rarely built any battery swap stations.
Nio announced several partnerships last year to build battery swap-enabled models with several other car companies.
On January 9, an automotive blogger said on Weibo that Chery's sub-brand Exeed was partnering with Nio to build battery swap-enabled models that would hit the market in the third quarter of 2025.
CATL (SHE: 300750) is also building battery swap stations, though it's mainly facing the cab industry at the moment.
Nio currently has 3,154 battery swap stations in China, with Shanghai having the most at 183, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
The company's battery swap stations in Shanghai were already largely close to profitability, William Li, Nio's founder, chairman and CEO, said in a February 8 live video broadcast on Douyin, a short-video platform.
This year would be a big one for Nio's battery swap stations, as the company seeks to make powering up as convenient as refueling for users of Nio, Onvo and partner car brands, Li said at the time.
During the broadcast, Shen Fei, Nio's vice president of energy business, mentioned that the company was providing more than 9,000 battery swaps a day in Shanghai, and will soon approach 10,000.
Hefei offers subsidies on car purchases available only for battery swap-enabled models
($1 = RMB 7.2610)
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