EV battery swap!
Exchanging batteries on the road to become commonplace
NIO EV battery swapping station
California is expected to prohibit the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, a groundbreaking move that could seriously affect the effort to fight climate change and accelerate the global transition toward electric vehicles (EVs). But this law may very well be a hollow effort as drivers hold onto their internal combustion engine (ICE) cars due to high battery expense and perceived range limitations.
For decades, the EV industry has struggled to create a viable model for quick and easy battery charging. In 2007, Better Place, an Israeli startup founded by former top SAP executive Shai Agassi, partnered with Renault to launch an electric sedan with a network of robotic battery swapping service stations spread across Israel and Denmark.
Many auto industry watchers were intrigued by Agassi's novel concept. Still, it proved ahead of its time, Better Place filing for bankruptcy in 2013 because of limited market demand. This was due to the high cost and limited range of batteries, as well as Better Place’s strategy of building large battery swapping stations in limited geographical locations. In addition, the substantial investment needed to develop the charging and swapping infrastructure meant users were often forced to drive long distances to complete the swap, limiting customer satisfaction.
NIO has found a way
With more than 1,000 Power Swap Stations up and running, and 271 stations located just off major freeways in China, NIO provides greater convenience and lower user costs than traditional charging through battery swapping. Due to the NIO Power Swap Station 2.0, the world's first mass-produced station that enables the vehicle to maneuver into position automatically, users can complete a self-service exchange in five minutes with only one click on their control panel, all while remaining in their vehicles. This approach gives the NIO community a major advantage in overall customer experience.
Nio has installed these second-generation Power Swap stations at an average of two new stations per day, each able to complete a remarkable 312 daily battery swaps. All stations feature 239 sensors and 4 cloud computing systems to maximize the use of visual recognition technology.
Most recently, NIO and Shell Global opened their first joint integrated Power Charger and Swap Station in Tongan, Xiamen, in August. The two companies also agreed to begin construction of joint Power Swap Stations in Europe later this year while building out 100 additional stations in China by 2025.
More than just a start
NIO users have now completed more than 10 million battery swaps, breaking down to a daily average exceeding 30,000 swaps. As a result, a NIO vehicle departs from a Power Swap Station with a fully charged battery roughly every three seconds. Representing a total driving range of 2 billion kilometers, translating to 130,328 tons of carbon emissions from the equivalent in ICE vehicles, the overall enviornmental benefit is equal to the volume of carbon that 1.2 million fir trees can absorb over 30 years.
Finally, NIO's battery swapping service has reduced the price of an EV by $10,000 because servicing is decoupled from the sale of the car. And, users have more options to choose different battery sizes at the power swap stations, enabling an upgrade or downgrade as their driving needs change.
It’s certainly safe to say that worldwide battery swapping is on the way.