September 29, 2026
What NIO and Geely signed
September 27 is the date NIO put on the definitive agreements. A Geely Holding subsidiary contributes all of the equity in Yiyi Internet Technology (Chongqing), known as Yiyi Power, plus RMB 640 million in cash. After closing, the Geely subsidiary holds 30.0% of NIO Power, NIO China holds 63.6% and an existing investor holds 6.4%, at a valuation of about RMB 16 billion after the new money.
Geely’s stake comes with two adjusters. An option lets Geely invest another RMB 640 million within two years of closing, or by the time NIO Power signs its next financing round, whichever comes first, lifting its holding to 34.0% and cutting NIO China’s to 60.0%. If NIO Power misses agreed performance targets, Geely’s stake can be adjusted down, to no less than 20%. Regulatory clearances and customary closing conditions still apply.
NIO China takes a smaller position in the other direction. It is subscribing for 10.0% of Zhejiang Haohan Energy Technology, Geely’s charging company, and Haohan uses that cash to buy charging assets from NIO.
What the network cost and what the deal values it at
More than RMB 20 billion is what NIO says it has put into charging and swapping technology and infrastructure, in its partnership announcement. The same release counts 4,126 swap stations, 5,307 charging stations and 30,598 charging piles as of September 27, and more than 125 million battery swaps delivered. The deal values NIO Power at about RMB 16 billion, and most of what Geely hands over is its own swap business, with RMB 640 million of it in cash.
March 2025 is when NIO said CATL would invest up to RMB 2.5 billion in NIO Power, and that investment never materialized, CnEVPost reported. The unit’s earlier outside money, per the same report, was a RMB 1.5 billion strategic round led by a Wuhan Guangchuang fund in May 2024.
From a standards pact to shared ownership
November 29, 2023 is when the two groups first tied their swap plans together. The 2023 agreement committed them to co-develop two battery-swapping standards, one for private cars and one for commercial vehicles, and to build swappable vehicles compatible with each other’s systems. The 2026 deal puts equity behind that plan: Yiyi Power is to become part of NIO Power, the two groups plan to connect their charging networks fully, and plans to bring swapping to Geely-group consumer and commercial models are preliminary and subject to further discussions.
William Li, NIO’s founder, chairman and chief executive, called the partnership “an important exploration and innovative step toward addressing involution-style competition,” using the term China’s industry applies to price competition that erodes everyone’s margins. An Conghui, chief executive of Geely Holding, said recharging networks “should be built together, shared openly, and connected across networks.”
Rivals on the lot, partners behind it
Geely and NIO sell competing electric cars in China, and GCBC tracks both in its Geely sales and NIO sales series. In August, GCBC argued that China’s record export month and its contracting home market were one event: capacity kept growing while the domestic fight consolidated. This deal is the cost side of the same consolidation. Two brands still competing on price will share ownership of a fixed-cost network once the deal closes, and the vehicle fight continues on top of it.
What comes next
The first gate is closing: NIO lists regulatory clearance and customary conditions as what it waits on. The option to 34.0% is the second checkpoint, open for two years after closing, or until NIO Power signs a new financing round, whichever comes first. A Geely-group consumer model that swaps at NIO stations would be the third, and the one that shows whether shared standards reach buyers. NIO Power’s own target is 10,000 swap stations by 2030.
