Wow, things are developing fast, Chang’an and now Geely. Are they gonna develop EVs with Nio’s existing battery format, or is Nio gonna develop a new battery format that better suits its partners’ need.
Logically, if they were using the same swapping stations. They would need to at least adapt to Nio‘s standards. As the batteries have to be removed, stored and charged by the station itself. So the dimensions cannot be much different than Nio‘s
the whole allure of EVs ( for me at least) is how versatile they are at charging. You can charge publicly or at home, through solar, i for example charged at a remote monastery at the top of a mountain since they had solar panels and i used an outlet.
This versatility disappears when you need to use these very expensive battery swapping stations.
So, what if someone comes up with a sodium battery or some other fancy chemical, NIO can modify their battery packs and use the new chemistry immediately. Geely van follow: change chemistry.
The coolest thing, is you can change to a higher capacity pack for longer journeys. But the battery leasing is so expensive, I don’t think it’s a long term financial benefit.
It’s more versatile. You can charge , swap, and upgrade or downgrade at will. Even for a day. At least look into it before posting with such confidence
i’m 100% confident it will not catch on. It works in a few select countries in urban environments but it’s a non starter due to the very expensive battery stations needed.
You don’t need to use the station though. The Nio cars still have decent fast charging capabilities. 125kw peak, but with a nice flat curve 86kWh usable 10-80% in 41 minutes.
Renault tried the approach of non battery ownership and it hasn’t caught on very well. I just don’t see it becoming a big thing in Europe
It was exceedingly popular back in the day, 93% of Zoe’s in 2017 and continued to be until around 2019 when it was discontinued (60%). In fact it probably was one of the biggest factors in the success of the Zoe.
https://media.renault.com/renault-reaches-milestone-of-100000-ev-batteries-leased/
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/renault-ends-battery-leasing-electric-zoe
- Separate the rather low cost of the EV itself from the high cost of the battery.
- Spare customers the risk of battery degradation, a bigger cause for concern back in 2017 especially considering the poor degradation of the original leaf.
I think a number of factors caused the model to be discontinued.
- Poor residual value of cars with battery leasing
- The impressive reliability of the Zoe made battery leasing not necessary.
- Generous EV grants after 2019 offset the cost of the battery purchase.
Now, I don’t think the average Nio prospective buyer will care much to save 12k€ on the battery. Since the scheme always made more sense for cheaper low-cost cars. For me it’s just a means to subsidise their swapping infrastructure, as the swap fees definitely aren’t enough (10€ + energy costs).