Power UP 2026 NIO Power Day was held with a full battery swap journey from Dushanzi to Khorgos in Xinjiang. With the 4,125th NIO battery swap station beginning operation at Sayram Lake, the NIO Silk Road battery swap route has officially opened along its entire length.
The route starts in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province in the east and ends in Khorgos, Xinjiang in the west, covering a total distance of 3,605 kilometers, with 33 NIO battery swap stations deployed along the way. Following the route's completion, drivers can depart from any battery swap station nationwide and complete the entire journey using battery swaps to reach every provincial-level administrative region in mainland China.
The opening of the NIO Silk Road battery swap route also marks the full completion of battery swap coverage along China's longest expressway, the G30 Lianyungang–Khorgos Expressway. As the core trunk line supporting the Silk Road battery swap route, the G30 Lianyungang–Khorgos Expressway runs through the northwest with a total length of 4,395 kilometers, with 43 NIO battery swap stations deployed along it.
To date, NIO has built 1,063 battery swap stations on expressways across the country, forming a "9 vertical, 11 horizontal, 16 major city clusters" expressway battery swap network that covers more than 550 cities nationwide. From September 23 to 24, NIO Inc. (NYSE: NIO) co-founder and President Qin Lihong departed from Dunhuang, the endpoint of the Hexi Corridor section of the Silk Road battery swap route, and witnessed along the way the commissioning of two NIO battery swap stations at the Xingxingxia Service Area and the Tiziquan Service Area on the G30 Lianyungang–Khorgos Expressway. From September 25 to 26, NIO-SW (HKEX: 09866) founder, Chairman and CEO Li Bin, together with co-founder and President Qin Lihong and others, set out from Urumqi and traveled the entire way by battery swap directly to the Khorgos Port for inspection.
On September 26, Li Bin launched a livestream for the full opening of the Silk Road battery swap route and Power UP 2026 NIO Power Day, visiting NIO battery swap stations and expressway service areas along the route and witnessing the route's completion. At the opening ceremony by Sayram Lake, NIO Inc. USD OV (SGX: NIO.SI) CFO and head of NIO Power Qu Yu shared the latest layout of NIO's charging and battery swap network, along with progress in the expressway battery swap network and the construction of Power Scenic Routes. By the end of 2026, a total of 100 Power Scenic Routes will be built, and beloved self-driving routes such as the Southern Xinjiang Western Extremity Line, the 331 Northern Border Line, the Ali North Line and the Sichuan-Tibet North Line will all have NIO charging and battery swap facilities deployed along them, making power replenishment as convenient as refueling.
Li Bin said during the livestream that the Silk Road is not only a major corridor for culture, tourism and commerce, but also an important scenario for testing the experience of long-distance pure electric travel. He believes that with the Silk Road battery swap route now connected, the Xi'an–Khorgos trunk line will interact with the broader network, allowing users to cross the Hexi Corridor and venture deep into Xinjiang entirely by battery swap, and to reach every provincial-level administrative region in mainland China entirely by battery swap, further improving the accessibility, certainty and convenience of long-distance pure electric travel.
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