China’s electric-vehicle infrastructure race is producing an unusual kind of alliance. Geely Holding is set to acquire 30% of NIO Power, the business behind NIO’s charging and battery-swapping network, in a transaction that combines RMB640 million—about US$95 million—in cash with Geely’s own commercial battery-swapping operation.
The agreement goes well beyond a conventional equity investment. NIO and Geely are combining infrastructure, operating assets and technology while also planning deeper cooperation across consumer vehicles, commercial mobility and charging. The transaction values NIO Power at approximately RMB16 billion, or roughly US$2.4 billion, after the investment. For NIO, it brings another major automaker directly into the economics of its energy network. For Geely, it provides a much larger platform for turning battery swapping from a specialized service into shared automotive infrastructure.
A 30% Stake Built From Cash and an Operating Business
The US$95 million figure attached to the deal tells only part of the story. Under the definitive agreements, a Geely Holding subsidiary will contribute RMB640 million in cash and its entire ownership interest in Yiyi Internet Technology (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. in exchange for newly issued shares representing 30% of NIO Power once the transaction closes. Yiyi operates battery-swapping services aimed at the commercial-mobility market.
That structure makes this considerably different from Geely simply writing NIO a cheque. An operating battery-swap business, its assets and commercial relationships are being folded into the larger NIO Power platform alongside the cash investment. NIO has placed the post-money value of NIO Power at approximately RMB16 billion, or around US$2.38 billion at exchange rates cited in reporting on the transaction. The agreements remain subject to regulatory clearances and customary closing conditions, meaning the ownership changes are agreed but are not yet an unconditional completed transaction.
NIO Keeps Control — and the Deal Comes With Guardrails
Despite giving Geely a sizeable position, NIO is not giving up control of its power infrastructure business. After closing, NIO Holding Co., better known as NIO China, is expected to own 63.6% of NIO Power. Geely’s subsidiary would hold 30%, while Wuhan Guangchuang Emerging Technology Phase I Venture Capital Fund Partnership would retain the remaining 6.4%.
There is another important detail buried beneath those headline percentages. Geely’s final ownership is tied to operational milestones after closing. If specified performance requirements are not met, its interest can be adjusted downward, although the agreements state that it will not fall below 20%. That introduces a performance element into what otherwise looks like a straightforward equity exchange. NIO retains majority control while Geely receives a large enough position to have substantial economic exposure to how the infrastructure business develops. The arrangement therefore ties part of Geely’s eventual ownership directly to execution rather than guaranteeing the full 30% regardless of operational results.
Geely Has a Route to Increase Its Stake to 34%
The initial 30% position may not be Geely’s final investment in NIO Power. The agreements give the Geely subsidiary an option to invest another RMB640 million in cash. That right can be exercised before the earlier of two events: two years after the current transaction closes or NIO Power entering binding agreements for another financing round.
If Geely exercises the option and no post-closing ownership adjustment is applied, its stake would rise to 34%. NIO China’s holding would decline to 60%, meaning NIO would still maintain clear majority control. The structure gives Geely time to see how the integrated business performs before committing additional money while providing NIO Power with a potential second capital injection. It also suggests that both companies are planning for an arrangement that may deepen rather than remain static. A further RMB640 million would bring Geely’s direct cash contributions under the two stages to RMB1.28 billion, separate from the value represented by the Yiyi business contribution.
Yiyi Brings a Different Kind of Battery-Swap Customer
NIO built its battery-swapping reputation primarily around private passenger vehicles, but Yiyi brings experience from another corner of the market: commercial mobility. NIO’s disclosure describes the Geely subsidiary as a provider of battery-swapping services for that market. Commercial vehicles, taxis and ride-hailing fleets can create especially demanding infrastructure requirements because vehicles may travel long distances every day and generate revenue only while they are operating.
Geely has been developing this ecosystem for years. Its earlier sustainability disclosures described an interconnected model involving vehicles, battery stations, batteries and cloud services, with businesses including Yiyi Internet, Livan and ride-hailing platform CaoCao Mobility playing different roles. Geely was already operating battery-swap infrastructure before its relationship with NIO deepened. Bringing Yiyi into NIO Power therefore adds more than corporate ownership. It combines NIO’s large consumer-oriented swapping network with Geely’s experience serving high-utilization mobility operations, potentially creating greater station utilization across different times of day and different categories of vehicles.
A 2023 Partnership Is Becoming a Shared Operating Platform
NIO and Geely did not suddenly discover battery swapping in 2026. The companies signed their first major strategic battery-swap agreement in November 2023. At the time, they outlined cooperation in battery standards, swapping technology, network construction and operation, development of compatible vehicles and management of battery assets.
Their original plan was ambitious even without an ownership relationship. The companies discussed developing standards for both private passenger cars and commercial vehicles, creating compatible battery-swappable vehicles and sharing infrastructure. The new transaction turns much of that conceptual partnership into something financially harder to unwind. Geely will own part of NIO Power, while its existing commercial swapping operation will become part of the same platform. That changes the relationship from two automakers agreeing to cooperate into two companies with shared assets and capital at stake. Nearly three years after the initial partnership was announced, the infrastructure strategy is moving from interoperability agreements toward actual business integration.
Consumer Geely Models Could Become an Important Next Step
One of the most consequential parts of the agreement concerns vehicles that have not yet been identified. NIO and Geely say they are planning further adoption of battery-swapping technology across consumer models as well as commercial-mobility operations connected with Geely-related companies. Reporting from the signing indicates that the companies intend to develop unified swapping technology and standards, with Geely developing compatible consumer vehicles and NIO Power providing the swapping services.
However, important details remain unresolved. Neither company has publicly identified which Geely-affiliated brands would launch the vehicles, what the first models would be or when they might reach customers. NIO’s formal announcement describes these initiatives as preliminary plans whose final implementation is subject to further discussion. That distinction matters. The transaction significantly increases the probability of deeper vehicle-level cooperation, but it should not be read as confirmation that a specific Geely, Zeekr, Lynk & Co or other model has been scheduled for NIO’s swap network. Those product decisions still have to be announced separately.
NIO Is Also Buying Into Geely’s Charging Business
The transaction flows in both directions. While Geely is becoming a major shareholder in NIO Power, NIO China has agreed to acquire 10% of Zhejiang Haohan Energy Technology Co., Geely Holding’s charging-business subsidiary. The investment will involve cash that Haohan Energy will use to acquire certain charging assets from NIO, effectively creating another point of financial and operational integration between the two groups.
Charging remains important even for an automaker so closely associated with battery swapping. NIO chief executive William Li said around the signing that NIO had built more than 5,300 charging stations and completed over 99 million charging sessions. He also said more than 85% of electricity delivered through NIO’s charging network had gone to vehicles from brands other than NIO. Geely, meanwhile, has outlined plans for more than 22,000 charging stations and 100,000-plus connectors by the end of 2027. Those are future targets rather than existing network totals, but they illustrate the enormous infrastructure scale the partners are pursuing.
NIO Power Is Already Operating at Serious Scale
Geely is buying into an infrastructure system that has taken years and billions of yuan to build. NIO completed its 100 millionth battery swap in February 2026, eight years after opening its first swapping station. At that milestone, NIO said its stations had delivered approximately 5.28 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity through battery swaps and that an average swap could be completed in roughly three minutes.
The network has continued expanding since then. NIO opened its 4,000th battery-swap station on August 7, 2026, alongside its first fifth-generation station. That generation increased compatibility across NIO’s three vehicle brands—NIO, ONVO and FIREFLY—with FIREFLY formally joining the swapping network at the time. NIO had 3,790 stations when it crossed 100 million swaps in February, so passing 4,000 only six months later illustrates the pace of construction. The company is now targeting a cumulative 10,000 battery-swap stations by 2030, turning greater station utilization into an increasingly important part of the business case.
The RMB16 Billion Valuation Marks a Step Up for NIO Power
NIO Power has already attracted outside capital before Geely’s arrival. In May 2024, NIO announced an agreement under which Wuhan Guangchuang would initially invest RMB1 billion for a 10% interest in NIO Power, with an option for up to RMB500 million more at the same valuation before the company’s next financing round. That initial transaction implied a valuation around RMB10 billion.
The new Geely deal puts NIO Power’s post-money valuation at approximately RMB16 billion. On a simple comparison, that is about 60% higher than the valuation implied by the original RMB1 billion-for-10% agreement. It should not be treated as a pure measure of organic appreciation, because NIO Power’s ownership, network and asset base have changed since 2024, and the Geely transaction also includes a substantial operating-business contribution rather than cash alone. Still, the comparison shows how NIO’s energy operation has developed from an expensive support network for selling cars into a business capable of attracting strategic capital from major industry participants.
The Bigger Bet Is on Shared Infrastructure, Not One Charging Technology
Perhaps the most revealing aspect of the agreement is that Geely is investing in battery swapping just days after showcasing extremely fast conventional charging. In September, Geely unveiled a high-rate charging system supported by infrastructure exceeding two megawatts, claiming that a compatible vehicle could go from 10% to 70% charge in roughly four and a half minutes under specified conditions. That puts conventional fast charging much closer to the time required for a fuel stop.
Yet Geely is simultaneously committing cash and an entire operating business to NIO’s swapping ecosystem. The implication is that China’s EV infrastructure contest may not end with one technology defeating another. High-speed charging can serve one set of vehicles and driving patterns, while automated swapping may remain attractive for fleets, high-utilization cars and drivers who value predictable replenishment times. NIO and Geely have also characterized their cooperation as open to additional industry partners. If more automakers eventually build compatible vehicles, NIO Power could increasingly resemble shared energy infrastructure rather than an exclusive perk attached to one automaker’s cars.
