Gasgoo Daily: Geely Unveils Next-Gen AI Charging Technology; NIO opens zero-carbon off-grid battery swap station; CPCA: Passenger-Car Retail Sales Down 22% YoY From Sept. 1–20

Gasgoo Daily presents a selection of the latest developments from China's automotive industry. Here are the key stories in this edition.

Geely Unveils Next-Generation AI Charging Technology

On September 23, Geely Auto Group officially launched its next-generation AI energy replenishment technology, "Geely Smart Charge." According to Geely, the technology is powered by Xingrui PowerMind, an energy-focused large model jointly developed with StepFun, and upgrades the charging experience across charging speed, safety, battery health and smart features. It delivers a peak charging power of 2.2 MW per charging gun and introduces three industry-first features: AI Fast Charge, AI Smart Charge and AI Automated Charge.

NIO opens zero-carbon off-grid battery swap station in Xinjiang

On September 23, NIO announced the launch of the world's first off-grid, zero-carbon solar-storage battery-swap station in Xingxingxia, Xinjiang. The station marks NIO's first deployment and validation of an off-grid battery-swapping solution. Powered entirely by solar energy, the system creates a zero-carbon "generation-storage-consumption" loop and independently supplies all the electricity needed by the swap station without relying on the external grid.

Xingxingxia, located deep in the Gobi Desert in eastern Xinjiang, has an extremely harsh climate. The area experiences winds of Force 8 or above for more than 100 days a year, with ground temperatures exceeding 70°C in summer and extreme winter temperatures dropping to -30°C. At the same time, grid coverage in the area is limited. Expanding the conventional power grid would require transmission lines to be built across more than 100 kilometers of Gobi desert, making the project both time-consuming and costly. This makes an off-grid solar-storage solution a more viable option.

CPCA: Passenger-Car Retail Sales Down 22% YoY From Sept. 1–20

The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) recently released its market scan for the first three weeks of September 2026. From September 1 to 20, retail sales of passenger cars nationwide totaled 878,000 units, down 22% year over year but up 8% from the same period last month. Year-to-date retail sales reached 12.593 million units, down 21% YoY.

Wholesale sales performed slightly better, with automakers wholesaling 1.001 million passenger cars during the period, down 19% YoY but up 21% month over month. Year-to-date wholesale volume stood at 18.184 million units, down 6% YoY.

New-energy vehicles proved relatively more resilient. From September 1 to 20, retail sales of NEV passenger cars totaled 596,000 units, down 9% YoY but up 14% MoM. Year-to-date retail sales reached 7.27 million units, down 12% YoY. NEV wholesale volume came in at 740,000 units, up 8% YoY and 25% MoM, bringing the year-to-date total to 10.518 million units, up 9% YoY.

NEVs accounted for 67.9% of passenger-car retail sales and 73.9% of wholesale volume during the period.