Chinese electric-vehicle startup Nio signed up oil giant Royal Dutch Shell to jointly construct battery swap stations for electric vehicles in Europe and China.
Under the agreement signed last week, the two sides plan to build and operate the first batch of battery swap stations in Europe starting in 2022, Nio said.
Shell will also allow Nio’s EV users in Europe to access its local battery charging network.
In China, the two companies expect to install 100 battery stations by 2025.
Nio said it is also in talks with Shell to build battery charging facilities in China as well as cooperation in battery asset management, fleet management, home charging services and technology development for battery charging and swapping.
Prior to the Shell deal, Nio began collaborating with two Chinese oil giants – Sinopec and PetroChina -- this year, allowing it to build battery swap stations at their gasoline stations across China.
Under the plan it disclosed in July, the EV startup aims to increase the number of battery swap stations in China to 700 by the end of 2021, from 301 as of July 9.
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In October, Nio started deliveries in Norway under the first step of an expansion into Europe. It plans to install 20 battery swap stations in Norway by the end of 2022.
In the first eleven months of the year, Nio sales surged 120 percent to 80,940.
Nio plans to boost the number of battery swap stations to 4,000 globally by 2025, of which 1,000 will be installed outside China.
