Media365
The company’s 3,729 stations allow owners of compatible Nio EVs to exchange a spent battery pack for a charged one in just three minutes, and most navigate the car into position automatically. Created to ease anxiety over range and slow charging, the concept is under increasing pressure as advanced batteries reduce charging times in conventional EV designs.
“Battery swap has emerged to be an option for the EV industry, but it remains to be seen whether millions of new cars will adopt the technology in future,” said Davis Zhang, a senior executive at Suzhou Hazardtex, a supplier of specialised batteries. “Ultra-fast charging technology is becoming more popular.”
Advanced batteries now allow some premium electric cars to take on enough charge for up to 500km of driving range in 10 minutes.
Nio launched its first swap station in Shenzhen in May 2018 and has invested a total of 18 billion yuan (US$2.6 billion) to develop the technology, according to the statement.
