Nio's energy network delivered more than 2 million charging and battery-swap services during China's National Day holiday, with single-day swap volumes setting new records, according to a report released by Nio Energy on October 9.
From October 1 to October 7, the company's 9,567 charging and swap stations nationwide provided over 2 million services in total. Highway charging and swapping volumes reached 24.83 million kWh, up 30.8% year-on-year and accounting for 13.7% of all highway charging and swapping across China, per the report carried by Sina Auto.
Peak travel days on October 1 and October 5 saw record single-day swap totals, reaching a high of 183,664 swaps, with one vehicle completing a battery swap every 0.47 seconds on average.
Swapping as a long-distance solution
Nio, Onvo, and Firefly users covered a combined 714 million kilometres during the holiday. A total of 127,542 users drove more than 500 kilometres in a single day, while 197,684 users logged over 1,000 kilometres. Notably, 203,581 users completed long-distance road trips relying entirely on battery swaps, eliminating range anxiety, the company said.
Swap services totalled 1,192,221 during the holiday, a 22% increase year-on-year. Nio's 1,073 highway swap stations saved users an estimated 309,124 hours of charging wait time. The busiest highway swap station was on the G15 Shenhai Expressway at Rizhao service area, while the G15, G3 Jingtai, and G50 Huyu expressways saw the highest swap volumes, with single-day peaks of 3,831, 2,356, and 2,308 swaps respectively.
Nio's 5,399 charging stations and 31,091 charging piles are open to all new-energy vehicle owners. On October 3, cumulative charging services surpassed 100 million, with 86.69% of charging electricity serving non-Nio brand users. The company's 92 scenic charging routes provided over 131,526 services during the holiday.
Network expansion continues
As of now, Nio Energy has built 9,567 charging and swap stations nationwide, including 4,168 swap stations, and has provided over 127 million swap services in total. The company says its highway swap network now covers more than 550 cities, forming a nationwide grid it describes as "9 vertical, 11 horizontal, and 16 major city clusters."
On September 26, the Silk Road swap route was fully opened, stretching 3,605 kilometres from Xi'an in Shaanxi province to Khorgos in Xinjiang, with 33 swap stations along the way. Nio plans to complete 100 scenic charging routes by 2026.
The company frames its swap network as a key driver of sales growth, arguing that the model has been validated at scale and is becoming a mainstream refuelling option for China's new-energy vehicle market.
