Nio Inc – ADR (NYSE:NIO), which recently unveiled its third equity offering of the year, is strengthening its battery-related infrastructure in China.
What Happened: Nio signed a cooperative framework agreement with State Grid Electric Vehicle Service Co, a wholly owned subsidiary of China's state-owned electric utility State Grid, to jointly construct 100 battery charging and swapping stations nationwide in 2021.
This is in pursuit of making charging and battery swapping facilities fully connected to improve energy supply experience for users and also lower the total ownership costs of electric vehicles.
The two entities are also working on jointly developing vehicle-to-grid — V2G — technologies that facilitate EV charging during low demand hours.
This will likely reduce the peak amount of load and distribute loads to non-peak hours in a bid to improve the utility efficiency of China's power grid.
Related Link: Nio's Li Talks China's EV Market Potential, Competitive Advantage At Beijing Event
Why It's Important: After sales inflected higher following a COVID-19-driven downturn, Nio is executing on its strategy of improving user experience and service.
The commitment to build battery-related infrastructure is a step in this direction. The development is also expected to increase EV adoption in the Chinese market.
In order to reduce EV costs for potential buyers, Nio rolled out the innovative battery-as-a-service leasing scheme in late August.
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NIO Price Action: Nio was trading down 3.14% to $40.66 at last check MOnday, with the shares reacting to the discounted pricing the EV maker set for its 68-million-share follow-on offering.
Related Link: BofA's Takeaways On Nio's 2021 Plans
Courtesy photo.