NIO: 10 Billion Kilometers, 20 Million Battery Swaps

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It seems that NIO has been rolling out big news quicker and quicker. It just keeps hitting new giant milestones and innovating on its unique technology. In the past few weeks, it has reached 10 billion kilometers driven across its customer vehicle fleet, and it has surpassed 20 million battery swaps. More stunning stats and news of technological progress are below.

NIO Battery Swap Network Covers Beijing-Taipei Highway

NIO’s extensive battery swapping network in China keeps growing and growing, including initial coverage of the Beijing-Taipei highway going from northern to southern China. “On April 23, NIO’s battery swap station network completed initial coverage of the G3 Beijing-Taipei highway with 21 battery swap stations along the route,” CnEVPost writes. “By now, NIO has completed coverage of five major highways connecting to Beijing, the other four being the G1 Beijing-Harbin highway, the G2 Beijing-Shanghai highway, the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau highway and the G5 Beijing-Kunming highway.”

NIO — 10 Billion Kilometers of Driving

NIO vehicles have driven 10 billion kilometers, according to the company. NIO adds that 60% of its drivers have used battery swapping stations. The company now has 1,383 battery swapping stations across China and Europe. The Chinese EV startup has grown fast, and so has its battery swapping network.

“NIO users achieved the 10 billion kilometer distance landmark in 1,762 days since the brand’s launch. Underlining its growth in recent months, it had taken less than 28 months from launch for NIO to reach the first billion kilometers when there were just 150 Power Swap Stations. Just a further 31 months on from that first achievement, it has added another nine billion kilometers.”

Big Battery Swapping Stats, And Bigger Plans

Earlier in April, before the 10 billion kilometer milestone, NIO performed its 20 millionth battery swap. Impressive. A NIO battery swap takes place every 1.6 seconds at the moment. And the technology is only getting better. “NIO’s Third Generation Power Swap Station, capable of 408 swaps per day, up 30 per cent on today’s capacity, entered service this month.” A battery swap already took less than 5 minutes, akin to filling up a gas tank — but cleaner and less smelly.

While 1,383 battery swap stations may sound like a lot, the company intends to add 1,000 more in China and 70 more in Europe just by the end of this year, 2023!

This battery swapping capability provides NIO with a big opportunity not afforded to other EV companies — the ability to easily, conveniently, and convincingly decouple expensive batteries from electric cars. “Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) uncouples the cost, maintenance, and upgradability of batteries from the vehicle cost, making EV ownership more appealing. In markets such as Norway, approximately 95 percent of users opted for BaaS.” Wowza! Norway, the most advanced and most mature EV market in the world, is always a useful place to see what the EV future may hold. The fact that 95% of NIO buyers there are choosing the BaaS option shows us something. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the market will be dominated by battery swapping in time, but it does show a hunger for this option and that there’s an opening in the EV market for … well … for NIO, since it’s the only company doing this.

More NIO Stats

There are now more than 320,000 NIO vehicles on the road. The company says that it “continues to progress from nascent manufacturer to established OEM on sale in six countries and set to be available in up to 25 countries by 2025.”

Let’s close with one more milestone. Within those 10 billion overall kilometers drive, the company indicates than more than one billion kilometers were driven using NIO’s driver-assist features, “such as NIO Navigate On Pilot, which fuses navigation, HD maps, and NIO Pilot.”

NIO is currently selling its vehicles in 6 countries — China, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark. With 2025 just a year and a half away, one has to wonder which 19 countries the company plans to add to its international network. Presumably, they are mostly European countries, but perhaps also the USA, Australia, and Canada?

It was less than 5 years ago that NIO started selling its ES8 in China. How far the company has come in such a short time! It’s hard to imagine how much bigger its on-the-road vehicle fleet and battery swapping network will be in another 5 years, or by 2030. We will surely be tracking it!