Photo: NIO
NIO started selling the ES8 on June 28, 2018. On that same day, it started offering its battery-swapping service. Four years after that, the Chinese company celebrated amazing numbers: 9.7 million battery swaps in 997 stations. We called it that the round numbers would not take long to show up. We just did not imagine it would take so little time: NIO has already reached 10 million battery swaps.
The company shared that the 10 millionth battery swap took place at 20:39:13 (local time) on July 4. A NIO ES8 received it at the Power Swap Station located at the Shanghai Hongqiao VEG Creative Park. Honestly, we thought the number of battery swap stations would reach 1,000 earlier than the company could get to 10 million swaps.
The explanation for that is almost obvious, but it is worth explaining the practical effects of the multiplication of cars and stations. According to Sina Finance, reaching 1 million battery swaps took NIO around 29 months. With more cars and stations around, going from 1 million to 9 million demanded approximately 20 months. From 9 million to 10 million, NIO spent only one month.
Considering that NIO’s battery swapping celebrated four years on June 28, the numbers do not match: NIO would have a bit more than 48 months, not 50 months (29+20+1), as the Sina Finance numbers suggest. Perhaps the real numbers are 28, 19, and 1, but only NIO could tell us more about that.
If we stick to the last number – one month to reach 1 million swaps – that means NIO’s 997 Power Swap stations perform around 33,333 swaps per day. That’s one swap every 2.8 seconds, which is an impressive number for a car company that still did not sell more than 300,000 so far.
With its European expansion, the battery swap station factory in Hungary, and new products for sale, these numbers should soon look humble. While its cars are naturally quick – being electric – NIO is speeding up in more than one aspect. For those who think battery swapping can help EVs, NIO is giving that capability a ride – shotgun – while it gains speed.
The explanation for that is almost obvious, but it is worth explaining the practical effects of the multiplication of cars and stations. According to Sina Finance, reaching 1 million battery swaps took NIO around 29 months. With more cars and stations around, going from 1 million to 9 million demanded approximately 20 months. From 9 million to 10 million, NIO spent only one month.
Considering that NIO’s battery swapping celebrated four years on June 28, the numbers do not match: NIO would have a bit more than 48 months, not 50 months (29+20+1), as the Sina Finance numbers suggest. Perhaps the real numbers are 28, 19, and 1, but only NIO could tell us more about that.
If we stick to the last number – one month to reach 1 million swaps – that means NIO’s 997 Power Swap stations perform around 33,333 swaps per day. That’s one swap every 2.8 seconds, which is an impressive number for a car company that still did not sell more than 300,000 so far.
With its European expansion, the battery swap station factory in Hungary, and new products for sale, these numbers should soon look humble. While its cars are naturally quick – being electric – NIO is speeding up in more than one aspect. For those who think battery swapping can help EVs, NIO is giving that capability a ride – shotgun – while it gains speed.
At 20:39:13 on July 4, 2022, at the Weilai Swap Power Station | Shanghai Hongqiao VEG Creative Park, with the completion of an ES8 battery swap, NIO users accumulated 10 million battery swaps.$NIO pic.twitter.com/NdhX6KjpKt
— NIO ?? (@NIOGlobaI) July 4, 2022
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