NIO will add an additional 20 charging routes under the Power Journeys plan this year, after having completed 52 routes.
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NIO (NYSE: NIO) has upgraded a program designed to improve the travel experience for electric vehicle owners, after opening dozens of destination charging routes over the past three years.
The electric vehicle (EV) maker announced on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18 that it is upgrading its Power Up Plan to Power Journeys and will continue its push to build out charging facilities.
With NIO's plan to add 1,000 battery swap stations and 10,000 charging piles this year, Power Journeys will meet the charging demand of more customers, said William Li, the company's founder, chairman and CEO, in a brief release.
NIO will add an additional 20 charging routes under the Power Journeys plan this year, covering areas including the Silk Road, southeastern Guizhou and the Xilin Gol grasslands.
NIO announced the Power Up Plan during the Beijing auto show in September 2020, with the aim of deploying destination DC charging piles in popular travel, leisure and business destinations to form a nationwide charging network.
According to the plan, NIO's ultimate goal is to deploy more than 30,000 destination charging piles in China.
To achieve this goal, NIO previously said it would provide a total of RMB 100 million in construction and operation subsidies to all partners who are willing to share resources and waive service fees for NIO users, with an average subsidy of RMB 1,000 per charging post per year for three years.
Up to now, NIO has completed 52 destination charging routes.
The routes are popular with users and have validated NIO's thinking, Li said, adding that the company has decided to deploy more charging and battery swap facilities next in places with poor infrastructure.
Li said NIO wants Power Journeys to meet users' needs for energy replenishment, so that where gasoline cars can go electric vehicles can go, too.
For NIO, ramping up infrastructure is one of its key tools to enhance the appeal of its vehicles, with deliveries of its NT 2.0 platform-based models all set to begin in the coming months.
Up to 70 percent of NIO owners are in China's first- and second-tier cities, and for the less developed third- and fourth-tier cities, the company is looking to expand with battery swap stations rather than showrooms that include NIO Houses as well as NIO Spaces, its co-founder and president Qin Lihong said last month.
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