Highly Strategic Partnership Between NIO and Geely

Geely and NIO have chosen to join forces to accelerate the development of battery swapping technology.

The two Chinese companies, NIO and Geely, have agreed to pursue a comprehensive collaboration on battery standards, battery swapping technology, network expansion and operation, and of course, the development of swappable vehicles.

And if, instead of plugging in the vehicle to recharge, you could directly replace a depleted battery with a full one to save time? This solution has gained some success in the world of small electric two-wheelers. However, it struggles to convince the automotive world, where batteries are larger and therefore much more difficult to handle. Yet, some believe that the principle of exchangeable batteries could also be relevant for cars, even though fast charging times will soon be almost as short as the battery swapping process itself.

NIO has begun deploying its third-generation battery swapping stations with the ambition of reaching 2,300 stations by the end of 2023, which would amount to 24,000 chargers across China.

In detail, this alternative and promising technology allows for more than 500 swaps per day, a 30% increase compared to the previous NIO system. For the customer, it’s almost painless, since the operation takes only five minutes of waiting. The charging power of these stations is estimated at 62.5 kW, a respectable value, justified by the desire to avoid overloading the grid.

Thanks to this strategic cooperation, both parties at least merit to accelerate the adoption of unified standards. The future could see coexistence between superchargers and swapping stations, and NIO and Geely have made the prudent and visionary choice to keep an eye on both.

ALSO READ: With NIO, battery swapping is easy!