Chinese Battery & Auto Giants Looking To Follow & Rival NIO In Battery Swapping

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Tesla tried battery swapping a very long time in the past. Type of. Perhaps. In any case, it didn’t final lengthy and there have been solely a few battery swap stations trialled. Higher Place tried battery swapping for actual in Israel, however then the corporate went bankrupt. NIO determined it might embrace battery swapping in its EV ecosystem nonetheless. Many assumed that was a useless finish that may fail and probably deliver the corporate down with it. Nonetheless, because it seems, NIO’s battery swapping has flourished and has grown to an enormous dimension. So, may others comply with swimsuit and succeed with it as nicely?

Initially, I feel it’s price noting that China might be the perfect marketplace for EV battery swapping. The nation has quite a few extremely dense megacities, which inherently have restricted house for devoted parking and residential and even office charging stations. Charging with dwelling and office charging stations is the best factor you may think about. Nonetheless, once you don’t have that choice, retaining an EV charged could be a problem. Battery swapping is clearly one answer for a lot of urbanites. Moreover, China is kind of fast to undertake new know-how — typically years forward of these of us within the US and Europe now. It appears there’s extra of an open-mindedness to leap on the subsequent tech answer.

Concerning NIO, it has put in 2,432 Energy Swap Stations (battery swapping stations) in China and just put into operation Battery Swap Station 4.0. I’m not discovering newer stats, however one yr in the past, I wrote that NIO had performed 430,000 battery swaps in just one week! It had reached 22 million swaps overall. Up to now half yr or so, it has additionally began partnerships with Changan and GACtwo main automakers in China. So, what are opponents to do? Properly, they will additionally companion with NIO, or they will discover their very own new and impressive battery swapping companion.

Information this week is that automotive big BAIC Group has gone the latter route and is partnering with battery giant CATL on an EV battery swapping plan. “In the field of battery swapping business, BAIC Group has advantages in the development of new energy vehicles, especially the development and market expansion of battery swapping models. It has been deeply involved in the field of domestic battery swapping taxis and online car-hailing for many years and has accumulated rich experience in product development and promotion,” CATL writes. “Since the launch of the Chocolate battery swapping service brand, CATL has vigorously promoted the standardization of battery swapping by relying on continuous innovation in technology and business models. Based on their respective advantages, the cooperation between the two parties and CATL’s wholly-owned subsidiary Times Electric Service will focus on the development of battery swapping models and battery swapping blocks, the circulation of battery swapping blocks and battery-related data management, and regional cooperation in battery swapping stations. The two parties and Times Qiji will also cooperate in the development and sales of models related to the heavy-duty truck battery swapping business, as well as the sales, leasing and energy services of supporting batteries.”

The partnership is about greater than that as nicely. “In terms of the new generation of intelligent chassis, the two parties will carry out in-depth cooperation on the next-generation pure electric platform CIIC skateboard chassis project, jointly conduct research on the skateboard chassis architecture, system, process, cost, and performance balance, and create products based on the needs of ‘scenario-defined cars, intelligence, and personalization,’” the businesses observe.

We’ll see what comes of this, however evidently EV battery swapping is alive and nicely in China, and now the most important battery firm on this planet is getting increasingly more critical about it — and pushing to have it standardized.

Oh, by the best way, CATL can be working with NIO to some extent on evolving battery swapping. See: NIO & CATL Partnership An Interesting Battery Evolution.