Lotus partners with NIO on charging and battery swapping

The Geely-owned sportscar manufacturer Lotus which in 2023 started to ship its first electric car has partnered with EV manufacturer NIO on battery swapping and charging.

According to the agreement which was reveiled at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition the companies will:

"carry out comprehensive and in-depth strategic cooperation in areas related to charging and swapping including battery standards, charging and swapping technologies, battery asset management and operations, service network construction and operations, vehicle R&D and customization, and connectivity, to build a unified battery standard system, jointly develop passenger vehicles adapted to the battery swapping system, facilitate the connectivity of battery swapping networks and operators with unified battery swapping operational and management system, establish an efficient battery asset management system, press ahead with the interconnectivity of different charging platforms, and put in place a unified high-power charging technology system and a reliable and shared high-power charging network".

The agreement is the first concrete outcome of the agreement NIO and Geely signed in November 2023 in which the two automotive groups should work together to develop mutual standards and technology.

As of April 25, NIO had installed 2,404 Power Swap Stations across China. The company also has 3,776 charging stations and 21,995 NIO Chargers which are open also to other brands in a similar way Tesla currently is opening up its charging network.

The agreement is interesting as it takes swapping as a concept one step ahead and not least verifies Geely's interest in it. The company group launched Ruilan Auto as a special swapping unit in 2022 and the first car under the name with swapping capabilities was launched in April 2023 at the Shanghai Auto Show.