Nio‘s battery assets management subsidiary, Weineng (Miraterry) has successfully issued the world’s first Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) based on power batteries. The “CITIC Securities-Weineng Power Battery Green Asset-Backed Special Plan (Technology Innovation)” was launched on February 11, 2026, with support from the Shanghai Stock Exchange, raising 501 million yuan (77 million USD).
This financial instrument represents the first asset-backed securitization specifically designed for EV batteries under a rental model, where vehicle owners are provided battery services instead of purchasing batteries outright.
Since its establishment in 2020, Weineng has built its business model on three core technologies: battery-vehicle separation, battery swapping networks, and standardized battery solutions. This approach has allowed Weineng to integrate battery technology, data intelligence, and asset management into a comprehensive service offering.
By January 2026, the company’s operational battery assets exceeded 40GWh. The company plans to continue offering high-quality investment targets to the capital market through REITs.
REITs stands for Real Estate Investment Trusts. It is a type of investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase and manage income-producing real estate.
Essentially, REITs allow individuals to invest in large-scale real estate projects, such as industrial parks, logistics warehouses, data centers, clean energy facilities, highways, and commercial complexes, without having to directly own or manage the properties themselves. The core principle of REITs is to own real estate and share the cash flow generated from it.
Editor’s comment
While the name REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) contains “real estate”, their underlying assets are not exclusively real estate. In this particular case, the underlying assets are the batteries managed by Weineng.
When a user purchases a Nio vehicle and opts for the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) subscription, the battery is owned by Weineng, and the user pays a monthly rental fee. This operational model mirrors that of real estate ownership and leasing.
Now, through REITs, investors can also gain rental income by investing in Weineng’s REITs.
For both Nio and Weineng, the REITs structure enables the cost of batteries to be transferred to a broad base of investors, thereby significantly easing Nio’s profitability pressure.
Follow us for ev updates