What’s new: Nio Inc. has opened its charging infrastructure for use by electric vehicles (EVs) built under Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.’s smart car alliance, as its competitors race to build up shared charging networks.
Nio has made its charging network available to cars built under Huawei’s Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, the Chinese EV-maker said in a social media post Wednesday. The alliance is a program under which Huawei gets a bigger say in the design, development and marketing of the vehicles it develops with its automaker partners.
The deal is part of Nio’s strategy to share its charging infrastructure with other EV brands. Nio said in its post that currently more than 80% of its charging facilities’ users are non-Nio car owners.
The background: Nio’s partnership with Huawei marks a renewed effort by the automaker to leverage its infrastructure to generate additional revenue and boost the utilization rate of its charging facilities.
Nio is building up an alliance, under which it is working with several automakers including Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd. (601238.SH) and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. Ltd. (000625.SZ) on establishing battery standards, vehicle research and development, and the construction of a battery charging and swap network.
Nio’s competitors in China have redoubled efforts to build their own charging networks, which can also be used by other brands.
In April 2023, Tesla Inc. opened a portion of its charging infrastructure on the Chinese mainland to rivals including BYD Co. Ltd. (002594.SZ), Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group Co. Ltd. and BMW AG.
Li Auto Inc. has also announced plans to build 3,000 supercharging stations across China by 2025, some of which it will open to other brands.
Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
