Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Nio, the Shanghai-headquartered electric vehicle manufacturer, will launch its upgradeable battery feature in Norway “this summer”, with plans to extend the service to the other four European markets at a later stage.
The announcement was made by Kajsa Sognefur, Head of Nio Power, at the MOVE event in London.
The EV maker, which expanded to Europe through Norway in late September 2021, further entered the German, Dutch, Swedish, and Danish markets in October 2022. As of June 19, Nio operates 43 battery swap stations across its five European markets.
Previously, European customers were unable to switch between the 75kWh standard range and the 100kWh long-range batteries available at Nio’s battery swap stations.
The new feature will allow users to upgrade or downgrade their batteries based on their needs, similar to the flexibility offered in China under Nio’s Battery as a Service (BaaS) program.
When questioned about potential expansion into the UK, Sognefur stated that while preparations are underway, no specific launch date has been confirmed.
In China, Nio has recently introduced its first batch of Power Swap Station 4.0, designed to provide faster battery replacements.
These new stations support automated battery swaps for multiple brands and vehicle models, including Nio’s sub-brands. Nio has also been forming partnerships with key automotive and energy companies such as Changan Automobile, Geely Holding Group, Chery, and Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC).
Additionally, in late April, Nio announced a collaboration with Lotus to co-develop charging and battery swap technologies.
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The fourth generation of battery swap stations features six ultrawide-FOV LiDARs and four Orin X chips from Nvidia, collectively delivering a computing power of 1,016
Tera Operations Per Second (TOPS).
The new stations boast a 22 percent increase in speed compared to their predecessors, completing a battery swap in just 144 seconds, according to the electric vehicle maker. Each station can hold up to 23 batteries, enabling up to 480 swaps per day.
Alongside the new swap stations, Nio also launched a 640kW Liquid-Cooled Power Charger. This charger, with a maximum current of 765A and a voltage of 1,000V, features a liquid-cooled cable weighing 2.4kg.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
