China’s largest electric car maker, NIO, is banking heavily on battery-swapping technology that looks like it can be replaced rather than recharged.
It is an ambitious idea and there is no guarantee that it will work in the market, but it could solve some of the biggest problems facing the electric vehicle industry.
The Nio ES8 promises 311 miles on a single charge, while the Ep9 supercar manages 427 miles on a single charge. In the US, the Roadster can only travel 400 miles, which Tesla says promises 620 miles. NIO also has battery exchange stations in 58 cities in China, so there is something that could give Tesla’s Chinese operation sleepless nights.
Many consumers are wary of buying electric cars because charging the battery costs time and requires charging stations. But the new technology now allows drivers to drive to an automated car wash, where a vehicle is lifted off and a robot replaces the battery in about 20 seconds. Tesla makes its own cars, but also has the best batteries and is the only electric car manufacturer in the world with a battery-changing station.
While this could help keep the price of new electric cars at a more affordable level, there are also ways to give more users access to new, high-energy vehicles, he said. The scenario for a successful battery replacement model is a common fleet, but the problem still needs to be resolved, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). China, the world’s second-largest electric car market after the US, considers the cost of electric vehicles too high to be part of its plan to switch to green cars by 2035.
The latter will become more important as Beijing introduces a new monitoring system, according to China’s Ministry of Environment and National Energy.
Tesla’s approval in China has added to confusion over battery replacement in China, which has sparked speculation that Tesla China could support battery replacement in the NIO. The Chinese government’s new battery regulation – exchange rules that hold manufacturers responsible for batteries.
Tesla officials in the country confirmed that the automaker was not seeking to get away with the battery replacement without explaining the reason for the new registration. Tesla officials have said that the company believes charging electric vehicles is the best way to power its vehicles, and that China, the second-largest market for electric vehicles, is riddled with battery and exchange problems. Given the high subsidies in China that also result from this practice, this step is credible.
This provides an opportunity to extend the life of the vehicle and reduce the cost of battery replacement for Tesla and other automakers.
If the company’s fleet can’t do that, they will welcome quick lunch swaps at their own expense, according to a company statement.
Companies like Tesla, which seek and want to innovate by making their battery systems innovative and standardized, could resist the swap. There is a new electric vehicle charging system that works by robots replacing small modular battery packs to get electric cars back on the road. The development of battery-powered vehicles and electric vehicles as a whole is an industry focused on developing infrastructure to support charging at home stations.
But Edison Yu, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said Nio and others could make battery replacement profitable and operating costs drive automation. He argued that charging multiple cars simultaneously and quickly – charging systems developed by Tesla and others are more efficient, taking into account the operating costs of multiple charging stations and the ability to charge multiple cars at the same time, but are slower than changing batteries. Last year, the government made battery replacement easier by offering a discount on electric vehicles priced at 300,000 RMB or more, which is good for NIO.
NIO launched its own battery swap program in 2018 with its first electric vehicle, and the company has been quite successful with this feature. The company reached 500,000 battery swaps last year and its comments are a sign that it has made battery swapping a cornerstone of NIO and making it easier for customers to offer it.
Nio also plans to open more battery exchange stations in China and other parts of the world. Around 200 battery change stations are already in operation in China, and 500 of these stations are expected to be added by the end of this year.
Nio is one of several Chinese automakers trying to challenge Tesla’s leadership as the world’s largest electric car maker. The US group has been under pressure since its bungled handling of a high-profile client turned into a PR nightmare.
Tesla is rumoured to be returning to the battery business – and replacing the business, this time in China – but the automaker has now denied the report, playing a prank on the company. Tesla demonstrated battery replacement in 2014, and the technology is touted as the fastest way to get a fully charged battery back to full capacity.
