(Yicai Global) Feb. 8 -- New energy vehicle manufacturers should increasingly join hands on charging networks, according to the president of Chinese NEV brand Nio.

Nio is still bearing losses so profitable rivals should team up to improve charging facilities, Qin Lihong said to Yicai Global recently.

This is not the first time Nio has been calling for more car companies to open up to shared facilities as the Shanghai-based firm's charging stations are already serving owners of other NEV brands but its battery replacement stations are not.

Automotive companies, including battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology and carmaker SAIC, are widening their battery swap layouts but the business that is so far limited to one brand only has not yet proven major profit potential.

During the recent Spring Festival, more than three-quarters of all electricity generated by Nio’s charging network went to cars made by other firms. Most of it was used by BYD models, followed by those of Tesla. But even drivers of vehicles produced by Xpeng Motors, Roewe, and Li Auto were major clients.

During holidays, such as National Day in October and Chinese New Year, traffic at charging and battery swap stations is three to five times that of non-peak average, a similar surge as at gas stations, Shen Fei, senior vice president at Nio Power, said earlier.

Nio has installed more than 1,310 battery swap stations and almost 13,630 charging piles around the country, and the number of self-operated charging piles exceeds those of Tesla and Xpeng. This year, Nio will expand its network of stations to exchange empty batteries, adding a higher number than the previously planned 400, Qin said.

In 2022, Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, proposed that NEV brands should accelerate the standardization of battery technologies for swaps as the current situation based on different designs leads to an intensified contradiction between demand and land and power resources.

Some car company executives told Yicai Global earlier that making batteries similar would involve a number of important modules such as vehicle design and product specifications so big firms are not willing to share those core details.

Editor: Shi Yi, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi