NIO bet that their customers would like to swap their electric vehicle (EV) battery packs out for a fully charged one rather than spending the time plugged in at a charger.
Just over four years after opening the first battery swap station, the Chinese EV automaker has reached a significant milestone by opening its 1,000th station and completing over 10 million battery swaps.
Both milestones were achieved this week.
According to a blog post on the company’s website, the 10 millionth battery swap took place on an ES8 electric SUV on July 4, 2022 at the NIO power exchange station at Shanghai Hongqiao VEG Micro Creative Park.
That was followed by an announcement on July 5, 2022 that it had opened it’s 1,000th station in Lhasa, Tibet.
According to NIO, their 1,000 stations complete over 30,000 battery swaps every day, which only takes about 3 minutes to complete.
Similarly, the 10 million swaps is the equivalent of completing one swap every 28 seconds.
NIO’s data shows there are some owners in particular who likes to swap out their battery. One owner has completed 1,364 swaps, while another has visited 169 stations. Very few rely solely on battery swapping, as the company says 303 users have only used battery swapping and never recharged their EVs.
The number of NIO battery swap stations and the number of battery swaps have more than doubled in less than one year. In September 2021 the company opened its 504th station and completed its 4 millionth swap.
