Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | X
The decade old EV maker Nio started building its battery swap stations in China back in 2018 and since then it has provided over 43.5 million swaps. As of today, the company has 2,413 stations in China and nearly 50 in Europe.
The company welcomed the first battery swap partner Changan in November last year, with Geely, Chery, JAC and Lotus joining in the following months. On Wednesday, Nio announced that the state owned manufacturer GAC Group is also joining the technology that allows drivers to replace the battery of the car in about 3 minutes.
Last year, the Guangzhou-based Group produced 2,528,822 vehicles and sold 2,504,975 vehicles, representing a year-on-year growth of nearly 2 and 3 percent, respectively. The company’s sales of new energy vehicles increased by 77.55 percent from 2022 to 549,602 units, mainly driven by its NEV brand Aion.
The companies will work on battery standards, battery swap model R&D and customization, battery asset management and operation, and battery swap service network construction.
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Both companies will also promote the opening up of their respective charging platforms to each other as Nio said. As of today, Nio has 2,413 battery swap stations and 21,000 chargers across China.
Nio CEO William Li said the cooperation will “amplify the two companies’ respective strengths in technology and operations, and push forward the unification of battery standards and operational and management systems, so as to make swapping a more approachable solution, and provide users with experiences as hassle-free as refueling”.
Nio’s new partner GAC Group has three new energy vehicle brands in China including Aion, Hyper, and Hycan. Aion sold a total of 28,113 vehicles in April, a sequential decrease compared to the 32,530 units sold in March.
The Aion V, unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show, is the second-generation model of the all-electric SUV built on the AEP (AION Electric Platform). It features updated design concepts and advanced intelligent driving capabilities.
Each fourth generation battery swap station — unveiled last December — features 1,016 tops of computing power and 4 Orin X chips from the tech giant Nvidia, with Nio aiming to build 1,000 new stations in China this year.
General Motors’ joint venture in China SAIC GM has also recently joined Nio’s charging network in China. The development follows a recent announcement in early April involving Jiyue, a brand formed through a collaboration between Geely Group and Baidu, which has also begun utilizing Nio‘s charging stations.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | Info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | X
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The post Nio Welcomes the 6th Partner to its Battery Swap Technology first appeared on EV.