Nio takes a step ahead with its electric battery minute exchanges

Will instant battery swap replace fast charging? For the motorist who takes down long stages, the concept seems promising. However, the idea fizzled out at Renault, which experimented with it between 2008 and 2013… a bit too early!

It resurfaced in China, at the electric car manufacturer Nio, which exported it to Europe. The advantage? When it takes at least twenty minutes to go from 20% to 80% charge on an ultra-fast terminal, less than five minutes are enough for a robotic trolley to slip under the car, unbolt the box and replace the exhausted battery with another. . In a jiffy, you’re off again for 400 kilometers of autonomy. Nio already has 1,400 stations in China, located along major highway links.

It follows a logic stopped by Renault and its then partner, the start-up Better Place which inaugurated in 2009 its first station of exchange-minute in Yokohama, in Japan. The popularity of Power Swap stations with Chinese taxi drivers ensured Nio a footfall that Better Place could not even dream of – its model was never profitable.

The exchange-minute assumes that the customer agrees to acquire a car without the battery, which he rents as part of a monthly package – a formula already adopted by Renault, decidedly visionary. The cost of land and civil engineering does not put off the co-founder of Nio, Qin Lihong, who wants to make his stations a “unique selling point” for his rather premium cars, sold between 49,000 and 74,000 euros. With great care, Nio has an advantage for its customers: for a weekend, they can swap their ordinary battery for another, with a higher capacity. Enough to increase autonomy on the highway.

The manufacturer has already deployed a dozen of its installations in Europe. It has 1,400 across China.

VIP advantage

For now, only Nio vehicles are compatible with Power Swap stations, while its network of fast terminals is open to electric vehicles of all brands. A way of maintaining the image of exclusivity of the minute exchange, which protects the customer from the infamy of long queues during major departures. The approach is the same in Europe, where Nio has been operating eleven stations in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands for the past few months.

Depending on the formula chosen, the battery rental package (169 to 289 euros) includes some exchanges at the station. Beyond that, the operation costs the equivalent of a recharge (about 0.40 euro per kilowatt hour). Another manufacturer is also betting on battery swapping: assembled in China by XEV but designed in Turin, the Yoyo license-free cart relies on a network of battery depots that it would like to see spread to all major European cities. .