Nio has switched on a new battery-swap station at the Jinghe service area on the G30 Lianhuo Expressway in Xinjiang's Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, marking a key step toward completing its Silk Road swap corridor, according to Gasgoo.
The station, which went live on 20 September, is a critical node on Nio's Silk Road battery-swap route. The corridor spans 3,605 kilometres (about 2,240 miles) and is planned to include 33 battery-swap stations, with the network now on the verge of full coverage.
Once the route is completed, Nio owners departing from any swap station in the country will be able to reach every provincial-level region in mainland China using only battery swaps along the way, the company said. Battery swap, a system in which drivers exchange a depleted pack for a charged one in minutes, is a signature Nio service that competes with conventional plug-in fast charging.
Jinghe sits at the northern foot of the Tianshan mountains and was historically a key town on the northern branch of the ancient Silk Road. From the service area, drivers can continue west along the G30 expressway toward Sayram Lake, a popular scenic destination. The new station further densifies Nio's charging-and-swapping network in northwestern China, an area where long distances between cities make refuelling infrastructure especially important for electric-vehicle travel.
Network expansion continues
Nio has been steadily expanding its swap infrastructure beyond China's coastal and eastern regions, where most of its sales are concentrated. The company operates a growing network of swap stations nationwide, and the Silk Road corridor is one of several long-distance routes it has built to enable cross-country BEV (battery-electric) travel.
The G30 Lianhuo Expressway, which runs from Lianyungang on the east coast to Khorgas on the Kazakhstan border, is a major east-west artery through northern China. Placing swap stations along such highways is part of Nio's strategy to remove range anxiety as a barrier to long-distance driving in its electric vehicles.
The Jinghe station is the latest in a series of infrastructure milestones for Nio this year, as the company continues to invest in its Power Swap network while also rolling out new models. The completion of the Silk Road route will give Nio owners a practical, swap-only path across the country's vast western regions, where fast-charging networks remain thin.
Nio has not disclosed the exact date for the full opening of the Silk Road corridor, but the activation of the Jinghe station brings the network to the final stretch, with the remaining stations expected to come online shortly.
