Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter
NIO will start upgrading its Battery Swap Stations to the third generation in 2023, according to an official answer to a customer via NIO App. The company’s third-generation stations will be able to store more batteries featuring a more flexible layout
During the 2022 NIO Power Day, the EV maker said they are nearing the end of the development phase and that tests already started in China. As of August 16, the company has 1,060 stations in China and two in Norway with an average of one battery swap every 2.8 seconds.
Answering a customer that was asking for an upgrade in a specific station in China that would allow the driver to have the battery swapped without having to exit the vehicle, NIO said
“Is it possible to upgrade the first-generation power station in the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau service area? With the second-generation power station, you don’t have to get off the car to change the battery,” the NIO user asked.
In the answer, NIO said the station will be directly upgraded from the first to the third generation, “Next year, it will be directly upgraded to the third-generation station in the opposite direction”.
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On July 6, the company hosted the 2022 NIO Power Day where Qin Lihong, NIO’s president and co-founder, unveiled what the company is working on for the upcoming months namely the new ultra-fast charger and the third generation of NIO’s Battery Swap Stations.
As EV reported on July 15, and according to patents that have been recently granted to NIO, the upgraded version will make the replacements faster, increase the capacity at the facilities, and also its flexibility.
In one of the patents, the inventor says the third generation of the Stations will allow users to swap the batteries in less than 3 minutes.
In the patents, it can be seen that NIO will apply several improvements in order to reduce the time spent by each user at the stations achieving. One of the measures to be used will be a simultaneous exchange between batteries, i.e. sending the used battery to a compartment while a charged one comes in.
In addition, each Station will have more slots and will be a lot more flexible: compatible with different brands of batteries, with different voltage batteries of the same brand, and with different wheelbase and wheelbase models.
There are also different battery layouts in the station with one of them allowing the battery compartment to be placed in the same direction as the car to avoid a 90-degree rotation of the Rail Guided Vehicle at a time.
On Monday, NIO inaugurated its second Battery Swap Station outside China. The new facility is also located in Norway (Vestby) at a strategic point between the Norwegian capital Oslo and the Swedish city of Gothenburg, a 300km route.
Vestby’s station is located at Svarthagsveien 1, 1540, and allows the customers to travel between the cities without having to stop additional times to charge the battery.
NIO will enter 4 new European Markets in the upcoming months including Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and The Netherlands. During the last NIO Day, the company revealed that will be present in 25 Countries by 2025.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter