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Recently, new breakthroughs have been made in the cooperation in changing electricity for Lulai cars.

On January 11, Xilai Automobile announced that it had signed the "Power Exchange Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement" with Jianghuai Automobile Group and Chery Automobile respectively. In the follow-up, it will carry out in-depth strategic cooperation in battery standards, power exchange technology, power exchange service network construction and operation.

As for the cooperation with Jianghuai Automobile, Weilai said that it has always had close cooperation with Jianghuai Automobile Group, and the cooperation in the power exchange business will open a new chapter of strategic cooperation between the two sides. In cooperation with Chery, Weilai said: in recent years, Chery has made remarkable achievements in both domestic and international markets. Through this power exchange cooperation, the two sides will give full play to their respective advantages and provide users with high-quality recharging services.

In fact, Jianghuai and Chery are not the first car companies to sign a power exchange cooperation with Xilai Automobile. On November 21 last year, Xilai announced that it had signed a cooperation agreement with Changan Automobile on the exchange of electricity business. The two sides will cooperate in promoting the establishment of replacement battery standards, the construction and sharing of replacement network, the research and development of replacement models, and the establishment of an efficient battery asset management mechanism.

About a week later, on November 29 last year, Weilai announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Geely Holdings. The two sides will carry out comprehensive cooperation in the areas of battery standards, technology, network construction and operation, R & D and customization of replacement models, battery asset management and operation, etc. Up to now, four car companies have reached cooperation with Xilai Motor in power exchange business.

It is worth noting that the official revealed that in addition to signing power exchange cooperation with Jianghuai Automobile and Chery Automobile. The official also announced the signing of the "Strategic Cooperation Agreement on jointly promoting the Construction of an Open and shared Reserve and replacement system" with Anhui Energy Group Co., Ltd. and Anhui Transportation holding Group Co., Ltd., and the establishment of Zhong'an Energy (Anhui) Co., Ltd. The company is jointly funded by Waneng Group, Anhui Natural Gas Development Co., Ltd., Anhui Wanneng Capital Investment Co., Ltd., Weilai, Guoxuan Hi-Tech Co., Ltd., Anhui New Energy vehicles and Intelligent Network United Automobile Industry Fund Partners. it is mainly responsible for promoting the unified recharging service "one network" of Anhui province and building an open and shared new energy vehicle storage and recharging network.

As we all know, the power exchange business of Weilai has always been controversial. The main controversial point is the high cost of changing power stations, while Xilai is still losing money, and the power exchange business will make it more difficult to make a profit. Although it is said that there is a change of power station is one of the bright spots to buy the car, but it also brings greater cost input pressure to the car. Qin Lihong, president of Xilai Automobile, once revealed that the cost of changing a power station is about 3 million yuan.

However, although the power exchange business has not yet brought considerable profits. However, Li Bin has said: I believe that the power exchange business is a sustainable and profitable business in the long run, and the charging pile business has basically achieved a break-even. At the same time, Li Bin also revealed that some investors are interested in independent financing of NIO Power (Weilai Energy system), there are also some initial contacts, independent financing of NIO Power will not be ruled out in the future. In terms of the mode of operation of the replacement power station, Li Bin said that Weilai has begun to incorporate the light asset model, and is trying to carry out external cooperation, such as partners building and owning the exchange power station, entering the Weilai network and handing it over to Weilai for operation. Dozens of exchange power stations have adopted this mode of cooperation, and this model will become a sustainable business model in the future.

At NIO DAY held in December 2023, Lailai unveiled 640kW all-liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging piles and the fourth generation replacement power station, and announced that it would build 1000 new power stations and 20000 new charging posts in 2024. Weilai plans to open up the expressway power exchange network of 19 major urban agglomerations with 9 vertical and 9 horizontal lines by 2025. Relevant data show that by the end of 2023, a total of 2350 exchange power stations have been built in the world, with a total of 21091 charging piles and 1460000 + third-party charging piles connected.

With the further expansion of the circle of friends for power exchange cooperation, it can effectively improve the utilization rate of the exchange power station and share the cost equally. In addition, with the establishment of Zhongan Energy and the power exchange cooperation with automobile companies, it can also inject new funds into the power exchange business of Weilai to a certain extent, reducing the financial pressure on the construction of Lulai automobile exchange power station.

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