Category: China

NIO brings over 300 partners together to help it achieve swap station build-out goal

said it hopes to strengthen its relationships with partners to help it reach its plan to add 1,000 battery swap stations in 2023.  |  NIO US | NIO HK | NIO SG

(Image credit: NIO)

NIO (NYSE: NIO) yesterday made its third-generation battery swap station a real-life debut in Haikou, Hainan, but perhaps a more important move was its gathering with hundreds of partners in the city.

The company's energy division, NIO Power, held a partner conference in Haikou on March 28 with more than 300 attendees to discuss energy development, Shen Fei, the division's senior vice president, said in a post on the NIO App yesterday.

NIO hopes to strengthen its relationships with partners to help it reach its plan to add 1,000 battery swap stations in 2023 and to strengthen the foundation for ongoing collaboration, the article said.

The company's plan to add 1,000 battery swap stations and 10,000 charging piles this year will require the full support of its partners, the article reads.

William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, shared the growth of NIO Power and mentioned that China's new energy passenger vehicle penetration rate reached 27.6 percent in 2022, three years ahead of the national goal of seeing that figure reach 25 percent by 2025.

Located next to the Shangri-La Hotel in Haikou, NIO's first third-generation battery swap station and 500 kW ultra-fast charging station made its offline debut, the article reads.

Here's a video of the event from the article.

NIO originally planned to add 400 battery swap stations in China this year, a goal that was raised to 1,000 a month ago.

"We have set a new target and decided to add 1,000 battery swap stations in 2023, accumulating more than 2,300 stations by the end of 2023," Li said in a February 21 article posted on the NIO App.

NIO began the year with a noticeable slowdown in battery swap station construction, perhaps in anticipation of a ramp-up in the capacity of third-generation stations.

NIO has added only 20 battery swap stations in China so far this year, bringing the latest total to 1,325, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

NIO's third-generation battery swap stations are expected to be ready for mass production in April, and deployment will pick up speed in May, Li said last month.

Starting in June, NIO will maintain a construction rate of 120-150 battery swap stations per month, he said.

NIO reveals aggressive plan to add 1,000 swap stations in 2023

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NIO partners with Norwegian smart energy provider Tibber to deliver better charging experience in Europe

Tibber enables users to track their energy usage and allows EVs to charge when electricity prices are lowest.  |  US | NIO HK | NIO SG

(Image credit: NIO)

NIO's (NYSE: NIO) vehicles support charging just like any other electric vehicle (EV), in addition to having access to a fully charged battery via battery swap. Now the Chinese EV maker has entered into a new partnership in Europe to make the charging experience better.

NIO has partnered with Norwegian smart energy provider Tibber to give European owners access to some of the benefits the latter offers, according to an article published yesterday in the European version of the NIO App.

NIO customers in Norway, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands who have a dynamic power contract with Tibber can easily connect their NIO vehicles to Tibber's app, the article said.

Tibber offers a range of services, including the Tibber App, that let customers track their energy use, find real-time energy prices and control the charging of their electric vehicles -- at best, when electricity prices are at their lowest, according to the article.

Smart charging with Tibber can be used with any wallbox, such as NIO's Power Home 3.0, the article said.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

"Once you set up the 'Smart Charging' feature within the Tibber App, your NIO will be charged fully automatically exactly in the hours when the electricity is cheapest," the article reads.

Tibber was founded in 2016 and focuses on using technology to help customers save energy and money.

The partnership with Tibber is the latest NIO partnership in Europe related to EV energy replenishment.

Last December 8, EnBW, Germany's largest fast-charging network operator, announced that it had entered into a partnership with NIO in which the EV maker would build up to 20 battery swap stations at its charging parks.

NIO entered Norway in 2021 and last October expanded its presence in Europe to include Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.

NIO to install 20 swap stations at German firm EnBW's charging parks

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BYD’s Q4 net profit up over 10 times year-on-year to $1.06 billion

's net profit for the full year 2022 was up 445.86 percent year-on-year to RMB 16.6 billion.

BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) reported a more than 10-fold year-on-year increase in net profit in the fourth quarter, as its new energy vehicle (NEV) sales grew significantly.

The largest Chinese maker of NEVs reported net income attributable to shareholders of RMB 7.3 billion ($1.06 billion) in the fourth quarter, up 1114.29 percent year-on-year and up 27.89 percent from the third quarter.

BYD's revenue in the fourth quarter was RMB 156.4 billion, up 120.39 percent year-on-year and 33.56 percent from the third quarter, according to its financial report released today.

In the fourth quarter, BYD sold 683,440 NEVs, up 156.74 percent year-on-year and 26.87 percent from the third quarter, according to its previously announced data.

On January 30, BYD said in an earnings preview that it expects full-year 2022 net profit of RMB 16 billion to RMB 17 billion. This means that the company then expected a net profit of RMB 6.7 billion to RMB 7.7 billion for the fourth quarter.

For the full year 2022, BYD's revenue was RMB 424 billion, up 96.20 percent year-on-year, according to its financial report announced today.

Its net profit attributable to shareholders in 2022 was RMB 16.6 billion, up 445.86 percent year-on-year.

The company's basic earnings per share in 2022 will be RMB 5.71, up 438.68 percent year-on-year.

BYD's main business includes NEVs, cell phone components, secondary rechargeable batteries and photovoltaic business, with the automotive business contributing RMB 324.7 billion, or 76.6 percent, of revenue in 2022. The business saw a 151.78 percent year-on-year growth in 2022.

Its cell phone parts, assembly and other products business generated revenues of about RMB 98.8 billion, up 14.3 percent year-on-year, contributing 23.3 percent of total revenue.

($1 = RMB 6.8765)

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Smart teases Smart #3, releases official ‘spy shots’

Smart has released a set of spy photos of the Smart #3 on Weibo, with text suggesting that the model will have sporty features.

(Image credit: Smart)

Smart Automobile, the joint venture between and Mercedes-Benz, is starting to warm up for its second model, which may not be far from being unveiled.

Smart China posted a set of spy photos of the Smart #3 on Weibo yesterday, with text suggesting that the model will have sporty features.

Smart didn't mention any other information, but some local media reports say the Smart #3 is expected to be unveiled at next month's Shanghai auto show and will go on sale in China by the end of the year.

The model entered a catalog published by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in November 2022, showing it as a small SUV with a length, width and height of 4,400/4,542 mm, 1,844 mm and 1,556 mm, respectively, and a wheelbase of 2,785 mm.

For reference, the Smart #1, the first production model after the electrification of the Smart brand, measures 4,270 mm in length, 1,822 mm in width and 1,636 mm in height, and has a wheelbase of 2,750 mm.

This means that the Smart #3 will be longer and wider than the Smart #1, but lower.

The Smart #3 has a peak motor power of 200 kW in the single-motor version and 115 kW and 200 kW in the dual-motor version for the front and rear motors, respectively.

The vehicle has a top speed of 180 km/h. It will be powered by ternary lithium batteries, and suppliers include CALB and Sunwoda, its regulatory information shows.

The Smart #1 went on sale in China on April 25, 2022, and deliveries started on September 24.

The model was designed by Mercedes-Benz, with the Smart R&D team leading engineering development, and is based on Geely's SEA (Sustainable Experience Architecture) architecture.

The Smart #1 is currently priced in China in the range of RMB 179,000 ($26,030) - RMB 24,5000.

Smart delivered 3,616 vehicles in February and a total of 15,998 vehicles since last September, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

($1 = RMB 6.8760)

Regulatory filing: Smart's second EV, Smart #3, coming soon

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CATL reaches deal to supply energy storage systems to US firm HGP

The 450-MWh battery storage project will be deployed in Texas and is expected to begin commercial operations in 2024.

(Image credit: )

CATL recently entered into a 450 MWh supply agreement with US battery storage project developer HGP, the battery giant's latest similar agreement with a US company.

The battery storage project will be deployed in Texas and is expected to begin commercial operations in 2024, a CATL press release said yesterday.

CATL will provide HGP with the EnerC, an outdoor premade pod system that offers high safety, long life, and high integration for a variety of weather extremes, according to the release.

The partnership leverages CATL's strengths in battery technology and HGP's strengths in energy infrastructure and storage resource development and will provide a more convenient solution for the market, the release said.

This helps meet the growing demand for clean energy in Texas and North America and highlights CATL's and HGP's commitment to achieving sustainable development, the Chinese battery giant said.

The two companies will also establish a long-term partnership to drive the implementation of utility-scale and distributed energy storage projects up to 5 GWh in size, according to the release.

HGP is based in Dallas, Texas, and has decades of market experience deploying grid investment-grade energy storage assets.

This is CATL's latest agreement with a US company for the supply of energy storage systems.

Last September, CATL announced that it had entered into a partnership agreement with FlexGen, a US provider of energy storage technology platforms and solutions, to supply the latter with 10 GWh of energy storage products over a three-year period.

CATL will supply FlexGen with EnerC, a containerized liquid-cooled energy storage product that can withstand a wide range of weather extremes and keep the system running safely and reliably for 20 years, the power battery giant previously said.

In October 2022, CATL entered into an agreement with Primergy Solar LLC, a US utility and distributed PV and energy storage operator, to exclusively supply batteries for the latter's Gemini PV and energy storage project.

Located near Las Vegas, Nevada, the project will have 690 MWac/966 MWdc solar panels and a 1.416 GWh energy storage system and will be one of the largest PV storage projects in the US when completed, CATL said at the time.

CATL has begun mass production of Qilin Battery, report says

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China NEV insurance registrations for week ending Mar 26: BYD 43,490, Tesla 15,886, NIO 1,909

is on track to reach its guidance, with 9,199 vehicles registered in the past four weeks.

Insurance registrations for new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China continued to increase last week compared to the previous week, although the performance of major automakers was mixed.

For the week ending March 26, insurance registrations for all passenger vehicles in China were 400,400 units, up 37.64 percent year-on-year and up 29.02 percent from the previous week, according to information shared today by several auto bloggers on Weibo and WeChat groups.

Among them, the number of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles was 272,100, up 43.50 percent year-on-year and up 37.64 percent from the previous week.

Insurance registrations for NEVs were 128,300, up 26.63 percent year-on-year and up 13.89 percent from the previous week. This means that the penetration rate of NEVs was 32 percent last week.

(OTCMKTS: BYDDY) NEVs registered 43,490 units last week, up from 38,414 units the week before. In the first and second weeks of March, BYD's numbers were 38,932 and 37,141 units, respectively.

(NASDAQ: TSLA) saw 15,886 units for the week, down from 18,712 units the week before. Insurance registrations for Tesla vehicles in China were 13,266 and 17,032 in the first and second weeks of March, respectively.

This means that over the past four weeks, Tesla vehicles have had 64,896 insurance registrations in China.

If Tesla vehicles register the same number of insurance units this week as last week, it may deliver a record number of vehicles in China in March, surpassing the 77,938 units delivered in June 2022.

Tesla has a factory in Shanghai that makes the Model 3 and the Model Y. Its pattern is to produce cars for export in the first half of the quarter and for the local market in the second half.

NIO (NYSE: NIO) vehicles had 1,909 insurance registrations last week, up from 1,775 the week before. The company's insurance registration figures for the first and second weeks of March were 3,345 and 2,170, respectively.

NIO guided earlier this month for first-quarter deliveries of between 31,000 and 33,000 vehicles, meaning that March deliveries are expected to be between 10,337 and 12,337.

NIO is on track to meet its guidance, with 9,199 vehicles registered for insurance in the last four weeks, although the first week of March included the last two days of February.

(NYSE: XPEV) vehicles had 1,564 insurance registrations last week, up from 1,296 the previous week. The number was 1,421 and 1,635 in the first and second weeks, respectively, for a four-week total of 5,916 vehicles.

XPeng previously guided for first-quarter vehicle deliveries of 18,000 to 19,000 units, meaning March deliveries are expected to be between 6,772 and 7,772 units.

(NASDAQ: LI) vehicles saw 5,081 insurance registrations last week, down from 5,438 the week before. It posted figures of 3,222 and 4,243 for the first and second weeks of March, respectively, for a four-week total of 17,984 vehicles.

Li Auto guided for first-quarter deliveries of 52,000 to 55,000 vehicles, implying a year-on-year increase of 64.0 percent to 73.4 percent.

Li Auto's guidance of 52,000 to 55,000 vehicles for the first quarter implies March deliveries are expected to be 20,239 to -23,239 vehicles.

had 2,934 insurance registrations last week, and its numbers for the first three weeks of March were 4,109, 988, and 515, respectively.

was at 1,214 units last week, and that figure was 1,814, 1,043, and 913 units in the first three weeks.

China NEV insurance registrations for week ending Mar 19: BYD 38,414, Tesla 18,712, NIO 1,775

Weekly NEV insurance registrations in China in 2023

WkBYDTeslaNIOXPengLi AutoBMWZeekrNetaNEVAll
03/20-03/2643,49015,8861,9091,5645,0811,2142,934128,300400,400
03/13-03/1938,41418,7121,7751,2965,4381,847913515689112,650310,341
03/06-03/1237,14117,0322,1701,6354,2431,4861,043988522107,767308,726
02/27-03/0538,93213,2663,3451,4213,2221,6631,8144,109515116,238345,340
02/20-02/2639,47310,7053,3571,6855,3871,7921,8552,152401111,983331,238
02/13-02/1937,0265,9133,1741,4634,2382,2711,4431,038329100,408303,101
02/06-02/1231,4176,9633,0451,3964,0626825471,170NA85,572280,741
01/30-02/0524,2808,6431,9489752,2405935543,96411469,692267,843
01/23-01/295,2803,356427210990NA89NANA17,94592,600
01/16-01/2224,7087,4963,0081,0684,903NA657NANA67,500330,400
01/09-01/1540,42012,6542,9631,8174,5272,6871,35942023799,041438,000
01/02-01/0835,9242,1102,8181,5513,7042,1031,5112388077,000290,000

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Leapmotor surges about 20% to near-record high in Hong Kong

Analysts expect 's sales to start improving gradually in the second quarter, meeting the company's guidance of selling more than 30,000 units in the quarter.  |  Leapmotor HK

Chinese electric vehicle startup Leapmotor surged on the Hong Kong stock market today, recovering almost all of its losses since going public.

Leapmotor rose as much as about 20 percent today to HK$39.2 a share, close to its highest price of HK$41 on the day it went public last September 29.

As of press time, that gain has eased back to about 16 percent, with a cumulative gain of about 27 percent so far this month.

There are no immediate factors driving the company's share price surge, though some recent developments are worth noting.

On March 21, Leapmotor released its annual results for 2022, showing it achieved revenue of RMB 12.38 billion ($1.8 billion) last year, up 295.4 percent year-on-year.

The company reported revenue of RMB 3.015 billion in the fourth quarter, up 116.16 percent year-on-year.

Leapmotor's deliveries in 2022 were 111,168 units, up 154 percent year-on-year. Of the total, 23,566 units were delivered in the fourth quarter, up 37.9 percent year-on-year.

The company's management said at the time that Leapmotor was targeting 200,000 unit sales in 2023, nearly doubling from 2022.

The effect of Leapmotor's price cut in March was affected by the price war in the Chinese auto industry, but the new orders will still start to pull full-year sales back up in the second quarter, said CITIC Securities analyst Yin Xinchi's team in a March 23 research note.

While sales are climbing, Leapmotor can keep its gross losses manageable and gradually narrow to near break-even through a series of cost-cutting measures and scale effects, the team said.

Leapmotor's gross margin in 2022 was -15.4 percent, better than the -44.3 percent in 2021. It had a gross margin of -6.9 percent in the fourth quarter.

The large improvement in both Leapmotor's revenue and gross margin in 2022 was mainly due to the growth in sales of the C series models and the obvious scale effect, the team said, adding that the company's average selling price of its products has increased with the product mix adjustment.

With the improvement of the sales network, overseas market expansion, and the application of new R&D results, Leapmotor's sales and profits are expected to further improve, Yin's team said.

The team expects Leapmotor's sales to start improving gradually in the second quarter, meeting the company's guidance of more than 30,000 units sold in the second quarter and revenue growth of more than 50 percent year-on-year.

In the third quarter, deliveries of the more profitable C01 extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) will begin, which is expected to further boost the company's sales and drive gross profit closer to break-even, the team said.

Leapmotor delivered 3,198 units in February, up 180.77 percent from 1,139 units in January and down 6.9 percent from 3,435 units in the same month last year, according to data released by the company on March 1.

Along with the delivery figures, Leapmotor announced the official launch of the C11 EREV, a rare shift back to internal combustion engines among Chinese electric vehicle startups.

($1 = RMB 6.8835)

Leapmotor delivers 3,198 vehicles in Feb, officially launches EREV model

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NIO’s 3rd-gen swap station makes real-life debut as mass production nears

Starting in June, will basically keep building 120-150 battery swap stations per month, William Li previously said.  |  NIO US | NIO HK | NIO SG

(Image credit: NIO)

NIO (NYSE: NIO) today gave its third-generation battery swap station its real-life debut in a test run, though it didn't go live as previously teased.

The next-generation station made its debut today next to a hotel in Haikou, in China's southernmost province of Hainan.

Executives including William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, and Shen Fei, senior vice president of NIO Power, were present for the introduction of the trial run.

(A screenshot of a live video shows NIO CEO William Li introducing the company's third-generation battery swap station in Haikou.)

NIO's third-generation battery swap station, unveiled at the NIO Day 2022 event on December 24, 2022, is capable of storing up to 21 battery packs, up from 13 for its predecessor generation and 5 for the first generation of the facility.

The latest facility increases the daily service capacity of a single station to 408, a 30 percent increase over the second generation.

Notably, some of NIO's third-generation battery swap stations will be equipped with two LiDARs and two Nvidia Orin chips, for a total computing power of 508 TOPS.

NIO announced plans to add 400 battery swap stations in 2023 late last year, but that plan was raised to 1,000 a month ago.

Li said on February 21 that the company will further accelerate the deployment of battery swap stations, aiming to have a cumulative total of more than 2,300 battery swap stations by the end of 2023.

Production of NIO's third-generation battery swap stations was well underway, with mass production expected to begin in April and deployment accelerating in May, Li said at the time.

Starting in June, NIO will basically maintain a construction rate of 120-150 battery swap stations per month, he said.

On March 20, NIO said in an article posted on the NIO App that the first 10 third-generation battery swap stations would go live on March 28.

However, this has not become a reality, and NIO's current plans appear to be consistent with the previous schedule.

NIO has already built some third-generation battery swap stations in cities including Beijing and Shanghai, although they have not yet been officially put into operation.

On March 23, CnEVPost visited NIO's delivery center in Jiading, Shanghai, where there is a third-generation battery swap station with the same exterior design as the previous two generations. The delivery center, NIO's largest in the world, opened on January 1.

(A third-generation battery swap station at NIO's delivery center in Nanxiang, Jiading, Shanghai. Image credit: CnEVPost)

Of the 1,000 battery swap stations NIO plans to add in 2023, about 900 will be third-generation facilities, NIO Power's Shen said at a media event last week.

The cost of equipment for NIO's three generations of battery swap stations is not very different, but the average cost per battery compartment has dropped significantly as service capacity has increased, Shen said at the time.

To date, the number of spare batteries in all of NIO's battery swap stations is roughly 11,000 to 12,000, Shen said in response to a question from CnEVPost.

NIO has added only 20 battery swap stations in China so far this year, bringing the total number of facilities to 1,325 so far, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

The slowdown appears to be because NIO is waiting for the third generation of the facility to ramp up its capacity.

NIO reveals aggressive plan to add 1,000 swap stations in 2023

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