Zhejiang Geely Holding Group will acquire a 30% stake in Nio Power, the battery-swapping and charging unit of rival Chinese automaker Nio, in a deal that values the business at roughly 16 billion yuan, or about $2.4 billion. The agreement, announced Monday, deepens a partnership between two of China's most prominent electric-vehicle makers that has until now been limited to shared technical standards.
Under the terms of the deal, Geely will contribute its entire stake in Yiyi Power, its battery-swap business serving commercial fleets, along with 640 million yuan (about $95 million) in cash. Geely also holds an option to invest an additional 640 million yuan within two years of closing, which would lift its stake to 34%. After the transaction closes, Nio China will retain a controlling 63.6% of Nio Power, with the Wuhan Guangchuang venture fund holding 6.4%. Geely's final stake will be adjusted based on operational milestones and could fall as low as 20% if the unit underperforms.
In a parallel transaction announced the same day, Nio China agreed to subscribe for newly issued equity in Haohan Energy, a Geely Holding subsidiary that operates a battery-charging network, taking a 10% stake once that deal closes.
Nio Power, founded in Wuhan in 2017, operates China's largest network of battery-swapping stations, letting drivers exchange a depleted battery for a charged one in minutes rather than waiting to plug in. The company has said it aims to expand to 10,000 swap stations by 2030, with projected annual electricity demand from the network exceeding 10 billion kilowatt-hours by then. Folding in Geely's commercial-fleet swap operations gives the combined network access to a broader base of trucks and delivery vehicles alongside Nio's passenger-car customers.
The tie-up extends a relationship the two automakers have built gradually since a November 2023 agreement to cooperate on battery-swap technical standards, followed by a March 2024 deal to expand shared charging infrastructure. Shares of Nio ticked higher Monday on the announcement, while some other Chinese EV makers slipped, according to trading data cited by market outlets. Analysts see the deal as part of a broader consolidation trend among Chinese EV infrastructure providers as price competition squeezes margins across the industry and scale becomes increasingly important to profitability.
The companies said they intend to jointly develop unified battery-swap technology and coordinate network coverage between the two brands going forward.
