China's electric car manufacturer has recently signed a broad cooperation agreement with the Zhejili Holdings Group covering the exchange and charging of electricity. According to the agreement, the Gigi Holdings will exchange 100 per cent of the shares of its wholly owned subsidiaries for electricity exchange, plus RMB 640 million (approximately $95 million) in cash, in exchange for 30 per cent of the shares of INIO Power. The post-investment valuation of the deal for the energy source is approximately RMB 16 billion (approximately $2.38 billion).
As another side of the deal, China has agreed to subscribe to 10% of the shares of Zhejiang Hohan energy technology, a Jili smart charge electronics company, and the cash proceeds will be used to purchase a portion of the chargeable assets from Uchi. This two-way investment structure means that the two companies are not simply buying and selling relationships, but have built capital bonds on both lines of exchange and charging.
The founder, Li Bin, has positioned this collaboration as an attempt to curb bad competition through shared infrastructure. Against the background of the current boom in China’s market prices for electric cars, the two front-runners have chosen to integrate their assets in the field of energy supply rather than continue to fight each other, a shift that is itself landmark.
Transaction details and timeline
This cooperation is not an instantaneous one, but rather a result of years of progressive development. On 29 November 2023, Gilly signed the first power exchange cooperation agreement with Kayo, which became the second major vehicle to join the exchange network after Chang An. At that time, the parties planned to jointly develop battery standards, establish a shared power exchange network, develop a tram-able model and establish a battery asset management mechanism.
Since then, cooperation has been deepening: in March 2024, the two sides reached an agreement on charging interconnections, which opened the loading stakes to the owners of the Gry, Jyuk, polar krypton, polar stars and smart brands; and in May 2025, a two-way charging access arrangement was established between Cyber and polar krypton. This 30 per cent equity deal represents an upgrading of the capital dimension of this series of cooperation.
In terms of operational objectives, the plan is to operate 10,000 power exchange stations by 2030, with an estimated annual electricity consumption of more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours. By the end of 2027, GIL plans to extend the charging network to over 22,000 charging stations and over 100,000 charging interfaces, including more than 15,000 intelligent charging stations and more than 50,000 intelligent charging interfaces.
Power-replacement roles and consumer car-type schemes
The core asset to be injected into the energy source — the ease of switching power — is currently focused mainly on commercial power exchange operations in commercial convoys rather than private passenger vehicles. It was indicated that there were "preliminary plans" on both sides to extend the power replacement services to the Gigi branded consumer car model and its commercial travel, but that those plans had yet to be finalized.
This means that uncertainty remains about the consumer-end expansion of the power exchange network in the short term. There are many brands under the flag, such as Jiley cars, polar krypton, collar, Volvo and polar stars. Once the theoretical exchange standards are harmonized, the benefits are quite wide, but the different brand-type platforms vary considerably and technological adaptation takes time.
Synchronized super-fast charge technology
This week, in parallel with the exchange of electricity, Gilly released a self-researched "Gili smart charge" technology and a 2250 kilowatt (2.25 MW) overcharge station. According to Gilly, it took approximately 4 1/2 minutes from 10% to 70% for polar krypton 001 and collar 10 batteries and approximately 8 minutes 40 seconds for 97%.
At the heart of the system is the Starwise PowerMind AI model, developed jointly by Gilly and the Step Star. Gilly claims that the model can predict battery temperature 30 seconds in advance, dynamically adjust charge power and keep the average temperature of the battery pack below 55°C and peak below 65°C. The hardware level includes a five-part liquid cold chain from the charging station to the battery pack, as well as a new generation of ultra-short blade blade batteries, some of which Gyli states can cool down by about 10 per cent. In addition, micropulsive techniques such as lithium ion pulse recovery are said to increase battery circulation life by about 20 per cent.
However, analysts also pointed out the constraints faced by physical landings: Most of the public chargers on the market are still below 1 MW, Biadi is already ahead of thousands of flash stakes in ultra-fast deployments, and experts have warned that batteries may not be able to withstand MW-class currents again without accelerated decay or grid upgrading.
The most immediate effect for the owner is the potential expansion of the power exchange network. The future access of vehicles branded under the flag to the power exchange network means that the use and coverage of the power exchange stations may increase significantly, and the economic viability of the operation of the power exchange is expected to improve, ultimately benefiting existing power exchange users.
For brand owners and potential purchasers of cars under the flag of Gigi, rechargeability will be enhanced. The existing access to the pylons, coupled with the expansion planning of the gill-owned overcharge network, will result in a sizeable charging infrastructure system by 2027.
For investors, access to independent valuations and external capital injections can help to ease the financial pressure on parent companies. On the other hand, through asset injections and equity acquisitions, strategic entry points in the area of power exchange were obtained at relatively manageable cost, without the need to build a power exchange network from zero.
In terms of industry competition patterns, the combined infrastructure-level efforts of the two front-runners may facilitate the convergence or at least interconnectivity of standards along the technology routes of power exchange and overcharge, which will have far-reaching implications for the energy supply ecology of the entire Chinese electric car industry.
First, the "preliminary plan" of both sides to extend power exchange to consumer-grade models, when they land, and what specific brands and models they cover are key indicators of the actual impact of cooperation. Second, the results of an independent third-party test test at the 2250 kilowatt overcharge station in Gilli will determine whether the technology can really change consumer expectations for charging. Thirdly, the pace of construction of 10,000 power exchange stations by 2030 and the pace of the 22,000 charging stations at the end of 2027 in Gyli will directly test the performance of both companies.
In addition, the specific transfer scope and pricing of charged assets have not yet been disclosed following China ' s pledge to purchase 10 per cent of the shares of the HUR energy in China, and this detail will affect the distribution of the real benefits of both sides in charging operations.
Overall, the deal marks a substantial step from single-handedness to infrastructure sharing in China ' s electric car industry. While transaction amounts and valuations are clear, the extent to which cooperation can extend from the capital level to that of products that are truly consumer-friendly remains to be seen in the subsequent quarters.