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NIO announced that its Hexi Corridor battery-swap route will be fully operational on May 10, completing a 1,739 km corridor from Xi'an to Dunhuang with 20 battery-swap stations. The new G30 service area site in Guazhou, Jiuquan (Gansu) went live today, marking the corridor’s final integration step. NIO and partner Ledao users will be able to drive the full route using battery swaps, and NIO says the Silk Road swap route will be fully connected nationwide in the second half of the year—enabling e
NIO's completed Hexi Corridor demonstrates large-scale battery-swap infrastructure can enable long-distance EV travel and strengthens operator-led alternatives to public fast charging. Tech professionals should note implications for energy management, fleet operations, and EV service integration along major transport corridors.
Dossier last updated: 2026-05-10 14:24:18
NIO announced completion of its Silk Road Hexi Corridor battery-swap route, covering 1,739 km with 20 battery-swap stations. The milestone advances NIO’s national swap network: the company says the full Silk Road swap route will be completed by H2 2026, enabling travel between any NIO swap stations across all Chinese provinces. NIO frames the buildout as supporting the Belt and Road initiative and local clean energy use in Gansu, using swap stations’ integrated storage/charge/discharge to absorb wind and solar power. NIO reports 8,855 total charging and swapping sites nationwide (3,842 swap, 5,013 charge), claiming industry-leading coverage and extensive highway swap connectivity.
NIO founder and CEO William Li (李斌) launched a 24-hour livestream May 10 to personally inspect and celebrate the full opening of the company’s Hexi Corridor battery-swap route. Li set out from Zhangye at 6 AM and traveled via battery swaps to Dunhuang, marking the completion of a 1,739 km corridor with 20 swap stations enabling NIO and Ledao users to reach Dunhuang entirely by swaps. The corridor connects Xi’an to Dunhuang and is a key segment of NIO’s larger Silk Road swap network, which the company says will be fully connected across mainland China later this year—allowing end-to-end battery-swap travel between provincial regions and supporting battery reuse and logistics for swap-capable EVs.
NIO published its 2026 May Day holiday energy report: from May 1–5 the company’s energy network delivered over 15.43 million kWh on highways (16.3% of national highway charging), and its 3,839 swap stations completed 1,031,469 battery swaps. Peak day on May 1 saw 170,585 swaps (about one swap every 0.51 seconds). Users logged more than 566 million kilometers during the holiday, with over 130,000 users driving 1,000+ km (up 70.5% year-over-year); 220,984 hours of wait time were saved via swap stations. NIO says its swap network covers 1,300+ counties and 1,035 highway swap stations; 5,010 charging stations and 28,806 chargers are open to other EV brands, with 87% of charged energy serving non-NIO vehicles.
NIO announced that its Hexi Corridor battery-swap route will be fully operational on May 10, completing a 1,739 km corridor from Xi'an to Dunhuang with 20 battery-swap stations. The new G30 service area site in Guazhou, Jiuquan (Gansu) went live today, marking the corridor’s final integration step. NIO and partner Ledao users will be able to drive the full route using battery swaps, and NIO says the Silk Road swap route will be fully connected nationwide in the second half of the year—enabling end-to-end battery-swap travel across all mainland Chinese provincial-level regions. NIO reports 8,849 charging and swap sites nationally (3,839 swap stations) and over 100 million swaps to date.