To talk about the biggest problem that plagues electric car owners, "range anxiety" is likely to bear the brunt. This actual demand has also spawned major technology "sects", such as battery swapping mode, hydrogen energy vehicles, extended-range electric vehicles and super charging piles (fast charging). Countries are choosing corresponding technical routes according to their own endowments. For example, China has chosen a variety of technologies to develop in parallel with its large single market, while Europe, the world's largest electric vehicle market, is more inclined to the fast charging technology route.
Under the full market competition, the battery replacement mode with better experience and higher energy replenishment efficiency already has relatively mature systematic operation experience in China. As one of the "pioneers" of the battery swap technology route, Chinese electric vehicle company Weilai has also begun to plan to promote this model to the European region. In January of this year, NIO opened its first power exchange station in Norway, which undoubtedly opened the prelude for China's innovative electric vehicle technology to enter the European and American markets.
"The battery swap experience is impressive"
"The whole process is less than 5 minutes, as fast as driving a fuel car into the gas station and filling up the gas." The "Automotive News" newspaper described the experience at the NIO power station in Norway in an article on March 31, "For consumers who are not familiar with the battery replacement mode, replacing the battery may sound like a slow and cumbersome process, but NIO is subverting this perception and bringing a fast and convenient battery replacement experience."
This is a Weilai 2.0 swapping station with 14 battery slots, including 13 battery packs and an empty slot for the removed batteries. Since NIO uses a uniform battery interface, other models launched in the country in the future will also be able to use this swap station.
The German Edison magazine, which focuses on electric vehicles, described the entire battery swap process in detail in an article: "It only takes 5 minutes, and the ES8 can start again. The whole process is surprisingly quiet and fast. Before you feel it, 10 times of fixing the battery One screw has been opened and closed, and the new battery is inserted and secured just as quickly. In the last 20 seconds, the system rechecks the components and battery, and releases the vehicle. And during the whole process of the swap station experience, we didn't even need to leave ES8, let alone being exposed to the cold wind that swept through the body on a day in March."
The information interconnection between vehicles and swap stations is also a point of concern for foreign media. In the traditional charging mode, the driver does not necessarily know whether the charging pile in front is queuing or how long it will take to queue. However, NIO's products and its substations have a better interconnection experience, according to German media Golem, which focuses on information technology. "The NIO app shows in advance whether the swap station has available batteries, and the queue number," de wrote.
Battery swap mode may help car companies gain a competitive advantage
In the eyes of foreign media, this boxy power station may be able to bring a lot of competitive advantages to Weilai - even in the competition with mature multinational car companies.
Germany's "Der Spiegel" weekly published an article on April 1 to pay attention to this power exchange station from China: "In less than four minutes, the power exchange is completed, which is why some experts believe that the power exchange mode will be the future of electric vehicles. The original charging It takes more time, like a Tesla Supercharger next door, where drivers have to wait longer to charge their electric cars to 90%.”
According to NIO’s official plan, NIO’s power exchange station will enter Germany in the autumn of 2022. In the aforementioned article, Der Spiegel pointed out the competitive advantages of this model, which can greatly increase the efficiency of consumers' energy replenishment: "So far, no German car manufacturer has shown that it will build a battery swap system. Ambition. If battery swapping becomes a competitive advantage, German car executives will have to rethink the issue. After all, better and more convenient products and services will be more attractive to users.”
The British automotive media "Automobile Magazine" directly believes that European consumers can rest assured to try NIO's products. The magazine wrote in its March 31 article: "In addition to providing traditional charging methods, NIO's power swap stations allow users to quickly swap batteries. This new energy replenishment method is a unique highlight of the brand."
Business models also attract attention
In fact, as early as 2008, the Israeli company Better Place proposed a battery replacement model, but the company declared bankruptcy after only 6 years of existence. The European car company Renault has also released models that support battery replacement, but why is Weilai being favored by so many local European media when it enters Europe this time?
First of all, as a Chinese company that "crosses the ocean" to Europe, it can naturally attract the attention of European media; in addition, NIO's models and power stations do have relatively advanced technologies. For example, the temperature in Norway in northern Europe is very cold. Such a climate has higher technical requirements for electric vehicles. But the Automotive News article noted that even in cold weather conditions in Norway, NIO EVs had no problem handling ice build-up under the car, and the battery was often hot enough to melt it.
Weilai supports a variety of energy replenishment methods, among which the battery swapping technology is the most unique.
At the same time, among the limited number of NIO European car owners, the vast majority choose the battery rental service (BaaS) based on the battery swap service model. This business model with battery swap technology has also attracted the interest of many European media.
For example, Sweden, which is also a Nordic country, has also noticed the Weilai power exchange station in Norway. The Swedish media Elbilen published an article on April 1: "Nio's innovative business model includes BaaS, which allows users to choose to buy cars without batteries. , renting batteries on a monthly basis. NIO’s swap station in Sweden will start construction this year and will eventually be laid along major highways. In addition, NIO will directly enter Sweden with its latest product, the ET7.”
The Dutch automotive news magazine Autovisie also paid attention to the value of BaaS as a business model supporting the battery swap model. They believe that this is Weilai's representative way of letting users rent batteries. “Currently, the NIO ES8 offers 75 or 100 kWh batteries. So if you choose the BaaS option, you can choose a different size battery pack each month depending on your needs.”
