NIO’s first fifth-gen battery swap station to launch August 7 with Firefly support

NIO's 3,994th battery swap station began operations on August 3

NIO Inc will put its first fifth-generation battery swap station into operation on August 7 in Quanzhou, Fujian province, a facility that will also stand as the company's 4,000th swap site in China.

Ma Lin, NIO's vice president of branding and communications, revealed the date on Monday. He said on August 1 that the first fifth-generation station would go live in early August, but did not give a specific date at the time. 

NIO has built its brand around battery swapping as an alternative to fast charging, a strategy few competitors have replicated at scale, and the new station represents the biggest structural change to that network since it launched. The station will run on a rebuilt fifth-generation swap architecture built to accommodate a far wider range of vehicle wheelbases than earlier generations.

The station will support battery swaps for users of all of the company's three brands — NIO, Onvo and Firefly, Ma emphasized. The fifth-generation swap station is a key upgrade to NIO's swap system. It uses a rebuilt underlying architecture that can accommodate a wider range of vehicle wheelbases. That means the flagship SUV (sport utility vehicle) ES9, which is 5.3 meters long, and the Firefly EV, at just 4.003 meters, will be able to use the same swap mechanism for the first time.

Firefly cars were previously unable to use Nio's existing swap stations because its wheelbase was too short, forcing the sub-brand to rely on separate charging infrastructure. As fifth-generation stations roll out, NIO Inc will achieve its goal of having its three brands share the swap network. 

NIO's Firefly hatchback

Firefly began internal testing at fifth-generation pioneer stations in late June in six cities: Shanghai, Beijing, Hefei, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Kunshan. NIO has said large-scale deployment will begin in the third quarter. 

As of August 3, NIO had built 9,149 power sites in China, including 3,994 swap stations and 5,155 charging stations with 29,781 proprietary charging piles. The network has completed more than 110 million battery swaps to date. The company has provided more than 110 million cumulative battery swaps. 

NIO has maintained its target of adding more than 1,000 swap stations in 2026. Meeting that goal increasingly depends on partnerships, as the company has slowed its own construction pace over the past two years to control capital spending. Compared with previous generations, the fifth-generation station increases battery storage capacity to 23 packs. Swap time is cut to as fast as 1 minute 48 seconds, while daily service capacity approaches 500 swaps. The station also integrates 500kW fast-charging capability.

For existing swap stations, Qin said first-generation and second-generation facilities will not undergo large-scale upgrades. The reason is that modification costs are close to building new fifth-generation stations, while mechanical limitations mean upgraded stations still cannot support firefly’s smaller battery packs. 

NIO also claims to be a battery-swapping pioneer, and says that its self-developed EV tech and its cars, which are already built around swapping tech, are what set Nio apart from the start-ups that failed before. 

While the swapping process is largely automated, drivers and passengers can remain inside the cabin. The car manoeuvres itself into the swap station, with no human input required. The entire swap takes around 3 to 5 minutes, and most stations in China are unmanned. 

When NIO first launched, the first batch of ES8 buyers received free lifetime swapping. Current NIO owners are charged for energy used between packs, with the final amount calculated based on the swap station’s electricity pricing.