NIO Opens First Battery Swap Station In Shenzhen

NIO announced that its first battery swap station - called the Power Swap Station - is now fully operational in the Nanshan Science and Technology Park, Shenzhen, China.

The station will be available for the ES8 electric cars, which are rated for more than 355 km (220 miles) of NEDC using a 70 kWh battery (from CATL).

NIO ES8 - charging, battery swap of mobile charging vans

On top of normal AC charging, NIO is going to offer three ways to enable long-range travel:

• DC fast charging in one hour
• 3-minute battery swap stations (at least 1,100 stations are to be built by 2020 in China)
• mobile charging vans (+100 km/62 miles in 10 minutes)

We don't understand how mobile charging vans could be a viable proposition, but we know that the battery swap system so far hasn't paid off for that company called Better Place. Who remembers the Renault Fluence Z.E.?

Read Also - New Tesla Patent Shows A Trailer-based Battery Swap Station

Also, Tesla designed the Model S with battery swapping in mind, but there's been very little interest in the pilot installation in California so the idea was abandoned.