GRA
Well-known member
Tom Moloughney: https://insideevs.com/news/392660/nio-battery-swap-loved-by-customers/
I've long been a fan of battery leasing and swapping, the main difficulty being getting enough companies to sign on. Nio's going it alone, but it seems to be working for them in China, where almost no one in an urban area can charge at home, and charging takes too long for many people even if it's available.
It works. They love it.
I have never been a big fan of battery swap for EVs. When Better Place started out I thought they might have a chance to succeed if they got more than one OEM to buy into it (they didn't - only Renault agreed to make a car that could use the service) and if they first concentrated all of their assets in Israel, a relatively small country where they could thoroughly cover the whole country rather easily (they didn't do that either and spread themselves too thin).[
So when I heard that Chinese EV startup NIO was going to be offering battery swap services to their customers, I was left scratching my head a bit. It seemed like an enormous investment that attempts to solve problems (long charging times and limited range) that are rapidly going away. . . .
I've long been a fan of battery leasing and swapping, the main difficulty being getting enough companies to sign on. Nio's going it alone, but it seems to be working for them in China, where almost no one in an urban area can charge at home, and charging takes too long for many people even if it's available.