NIO sells the car without the battery. The battery is the business.
In 2020 NIO took RMB 70,000 off the car price and rented the battery back. In 2024 its swap business lost an analyst-reported RMB 3.12B, but Shanghai stations ran past break-even.
Transcript
August 20, 2020. NIO must decide how to sell an electric car. Sell the battery with it, or take it off the price and rent it back? Your call?
NIO chose to rent. Buyers took RMB 70,000 off the price and paid a monthly fee, originally RMB 980 for a 70 kWh pack.
In 2024, NIO's swap business lost an analyst-reported RMB 3.12 billion.
NIO's CFO said a station breaks even at 60 to 70 swaps a day. The network averaged 30 to 40. In Shanghai, more than 150 stations each did over 100.
So the model works where stations are busy. Before building a network, find where usage will be dense, and start there. The case is still open: NIO passed 100 million swaps in February 2026.
The records behind this video
Every figure in the video comes from this Decision Record, each with its sources.
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