CATL in talks to buy controlling stake in Nio's power unit, sources say

Reuters

Mon, Apr 7, 2025, 2:00 AM 2 min read

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese artillery elephantine CATL is successful talks to bargain a controlling involvement successful electrical conveyance shaper Nio's powerfulness unit, which runs much than 3,000 artillery swapping stations successful China, 4 radical with cognition of the substance told Reuters.

CATL made the connection aft announcing a maximum 2.5 cardinal yuan ($342 million) concern successful the unit, Nio Power, successful March, said the sources, who asked not to beryllium named due to the fact that the talks are not yet public.

The sources did not accidental however overmuch CATL was offering nether the projected deal. However, 1 of them said Nio Power had been valued astatine much than 10 cardinal yuan during a 2024 fundraising round.

CATL declined to remark connected the connection erstwhile contacted by Reuters.

Nio did not straight code questions astir the imaginable woody but said it was promoting associated operation of artillery swapping stations "with aggregate investors, including CATL".

"Nio and CATL volition deepen collaboration connected superior and concern and further consolidate the strategical concern to jointly physique the largest artillery swapping web globally," Nio wrote successful a effect to a Reuters petition for comment.

CATL is ramping up investments successful artillery swapping facilities arsenic president Robin Zeng aims to reinvent his 25-year-old enterprise, pushing beyond artillery manufacturing to go a green-energy provider.

The company, which aims to pb a inclination it says volition regenerate a 3rd of state stations successful China, announced a concern with state-owned lipid institution Sinopec past week to physique 10,000 artillery swap stations. At slightest 500 of them volition beryllium built this year.

Nio Power, 1 of Nio's halfway assets, provides charging and artillery swapping services to Nio drivers and different EV brands including Tesla and BYD.

The unit's imaginable merchantability reflects the intensifying contention Nio faces successful China's car market.

In an effort to easiness user concerns implicit EVs' constricted range, Nio has built immoderate 3,240 artillery swapping stations, mostly successful China, that let customers to regenerate a depleted artillery battalion with a afloat charged 1 successful little than 3 minutes.

The investments, however, person been a resistance connected the company's profitability.

Nio has besides been co-developing EVs that tin swap batteries with different automakers' models.

($1 = 7.3086 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Zhuzhu Cui and Brenda Goh; Editing by Joe Bavier)