NIO Invests Again in Optics Valley, $980 Million Battery New Infrastructure Project of WeiNeng Lands

According to the latest news from "China Optics Valley," on March 12, Wuhan Weineng Battery Asset Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement with Wuhan Donghu High-tech Development Zone, marking the establishment of the Weining Battery New Infrastructure Project, which has a total investment of 9.8 billion yuan, in Optics Valley. NIO continues to increase its investment in Hubei's new energy sector, injecting new momentum into the development of energy storage industry in Optics Valley.

Source: Optics Valley Media Center

Wynne Battery was established in 2020 in Guanggu by NIO, CATL and other companies. It is the world's first battery asset management company based on the "battery-swapping" model, and has now become the leading enterprise in this field in China.

This newly implemented new infrastructure project will focus on promoting battery asset management, battery application technologies, and other industrialized outcomes, and serve NIO BaaS users. BaaS (Battery as a Service) is a battery rental service launched by NIO, adopting a "vehicle and battery separation" model. When purchasing a vehicle, users do not need to buy the battery pack, and can choose to rent batteries of different capacities and pay a monthly service fee, enjoying a charging, swapping, and upgradable power system.

In addition to this new project, NIO has already established the NIO Energy Headquarters Phase I and Phase II projects in Guanggu. NIO has currently built 3,753 battery swap stations and over 28,000 charging piles across the country.

It is understood that in 2025, NIO contributed about 12 billion yuan in fixed asset investment in the Wuhan area, achieving service industry revenue of about 6.7 billion yuan, becoming an important benchmark for the development of new energy industry in Guanggu.

NIO’s continued investment exemplifies the deep layout of the Optics Valley energy storage industry. According to relevant reports, Optics Valley has already gathered numerous leading enterprises in the energy storage sector: EVE Energy has established its energy storage headquarters and R&D institution to tackle core lithium battery technologies; Yifei Laser’s intelligent assembly lines have achieved mass delivery and export overseas; and Jun’an Energy Storage is accelerating its frontier technology development in zinc-bromine flow batteries, exploring new pathways for long-duration energy storage.