Huawei’s car unit joins CATL’s 2,520-station battery swap network

While oil prices and range anxiety dominate Western EV headlines, Nio’s battery-swap system in China keeps reaching new milestones that prove the technology can rival a traditional refueling infrastructure at scale, performing 1.2 million battery swaps over the holiday. Nio kicked off this year busting record after record, posting six-figure swap numbers during the third day of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations and marking the third such record for Nio in as many days – but the company hasn’t stoped there. New reports indicate the company broke those impressive records again, performing nearly 1.2 million swaps over the National Day celebrations last week.

Geely is buying into NIO’s battery swap network. NIO announced definitive agreements on Sunday that hand a Geely Holding subsidiary 30% of NIO Power, the unit running its swap stations and chargers, at a post-money valuation of about RMB16 billion ($2.4 billion). Most of what Geely is paying isn’t cash. It’s contributing its own commercial battery swap business plus RMB640 million ($94 million), while NIO takes 10% of Geely’s charging arm in a parallel deal.

As Amazon’s early fall Prime Day deals are in full swing, we have a bunch of Amazon deals being led by the Mango Prime Fall Sale with up to 72% discounts on its Power E bundles, like the 14kWh setup with 2x Power E CATL stations, 2x batteries, and an mSocket Pro at its $4,199 2026 low. Right behind that is Segway’s Navimow i105N Robot Lawn Mower at its $669 annual low, as well as a roundup of Tapo security devices starting from $32, like the C660 4K Wireless Outdoor Solar Security Camera at its $107 low. There’s also a solar bundle for Jackery’s 1,070Wh Explorer 1000 V2 power station, and a bunch more early Prime Day deals waiting for you below. You can find the hangover deals from yesterday down at the bottom of the page, like the massive Anker SOLIX Early Prime Day Sale lineup, Lectric’s 3-day Tailgating e-bike flash sale lineup, and more. Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

In a move that challenges Orange Juicer and Buick Electra for the highly coveted Best Name in the EV Business title, a new venture between CATL and Octopus Energy called “Swaptopus” has been formed…

Tom started his career as a daily newspaper reporter in metro Detroit and after a decade changed course to cover cars, spending the next 25 years at Wards Automotive doing test drives, technology and supplier coverage, editing WardsAuto World magazine and managing the Wards 10 Best competitions for powertrains, then interiors, then the user experience. He became executive editor at Autoweek in 2022 and joined Valnet in 2025. At CarBuzz, he's returned to his roots: a reporter seeking out news and trends and telling stories, but with more experience. Tom's wife has been putting up with him since 1990, and they have two adult children. He runs half-marathons and plays guitar in a rock band with other Detroit auto writers, called the Exhaust Tones. When the Lexus NX compact crossover came to the US in 2014, many critics found the hourglass-shaped "spindle grille" far too aggressive, some suggesting that it resembled the angry Predator face from the sci-fi thriller. The redesigned Lexus RX also got the same controversial grille treatment. But Lexus got the last laugh, because the RX and NX have consistently been the brand's bestsellers for years.

Olfactory elements don’t typically headline a new-car introduction, but that’s the case for the 2027 Lexus NX. Five years after the arrival of the second-gen NX—currently the brand’s second-best seller—Lexus has treated it to an update that goes beyond the usual facelift, although many of the changes are hard to spot. Perhaps that’s why, at the new model’s introduction, Lexus started by showing off the new Sensory Concierge system. With Sensory Concierge, Lexus follows Mercedes, Lincoln, and others down the path of the car as a wellness spa. Making its debut in the NX, but sure to spread to other Lexus models, this is a fragrance atomizer that can coordinate with music and ambient lighting. There are three moods: Inspire, Radiance, and Revitalize. All combine a perfume diffuser, music, specific ambient lighting, and a signature visual animation on the center display (those animations stop if you shift out of Park); some of the themes also open or close the sunroof shade and alter the climate control settings. The system is initiated via the touchscreen, and doing so requires a bit of a dive: Settings, then Vehicle, then Sensory Concierge.