During NIO’s second annual Power Day event, the Chinese EV automaker spoke of its future of charging and battery technology, unveiling new 500 kW ultra-fast-charging piles in addition to a peek at its third-generation battery swap station. Here’s a quick recap of NIO Power Day 2022.
Despite global supply chain issues stifling much of the auto industry in China and out, NIO remains one of the leaders in combining luxury, technology, and innovative energy replenishment to its all-electric vehicles.
Having officially launched its ES7 SUV in China last month, NIO’s EV lineup now includes six options, two of which are sedans like the new ET7. To compete with several competitors overseas like XPeng and GAC Aion, NIO has developed and implemented its own fast-charging piles as well.
That being said, NIO still remains the leader on a short list of other companies developing and expanding battery swap stations. The automaker celebrated its first Power Day last year as a counter to its annual NIO Day celebration, with a focus on energy replenishment – similar to Tesla’s Battery Day.
Today, during the second annual NIO Power Day, cofounder and president Qin Lihong shared some new charging technology on its way later this year.
NIO Power Day includes advanced chargers and swap stations
The annual event, which was broadcast live from China, took place early this morning US time and was led by NIO president Qin Lihong and his team, who spoke for over an hour and a half. To begin, Qin shared news of a new ultra-fast-charging pile coming to Europe and China by the end of 2022.
The 500 kW fast chargers have peak currents of 650 amps – easily some of the most impressive power in the current industry and a clear response to competitors in China. In August of 2021, GAC Aion launched a 480 kW fast charger, which would have been more impressive if the company hadn’t originally promised a 600 kW charger.
Just last week, chairman and CEO of fellow EV automaker XPeng He Xiaopeng said the company would be gradually rolling out its own 480 kW/800V charging network later this year to support high-voltage charging on its upcoming G9 SUV.
According to He, XPeng’s new superchargers can deliver 200 km (124 miles) of range in five minutes and can replenish an 800V battery pack from 10-80% in 12 minutes. By offering 20 kW more charging power, NIO looks to provide even more efficient EV charging to its customers and beyond.
According to NIO, 80% of supercharging pile sessions are performed by customers driving other brands of EVs. Qin used this moment to call out other EV brands to follow suit and open up their networks to all drivers.
New battery swap stations and other stats
In addition to the new fast-charging piles, NIO also introduced its third-generation battery swap stations, which are nearing their end of development and are being tested before installations begin in late 2022/early 2023.
NIO’s first two 200 swap stations implemented were the first-generation design, capable of storing five EV batteries. Swap stations 201 through 1,011 have been the second-generation model, storing 13 batteries alongside a maximum daily service capacity of 312 swaps.
According to NIO, its third-generation station will offer even more battery capacity and a more flexible layout. To date, NIO’s battery swap stations house a total of 8,961 batteries. That includes 3,821 long-range battery packs and 5,140 standard-range batteries. Here are some other details shared by NIO during Power Day 2022:
- In China by 2025, NIO will have a battery swap network covering nine vertical highways, nine horizontal highways, and 19 urban areas.
- By 2025, more than 90% of NIO customers will have at least one battery swap station within 3 km (1.9 miles) of their homes.
- NIO plans to have over 4,000 battery swap stations worldwide by 2025, 1,000 overseas.
- The automaker is testing the use of stored batteries to provide power back to the grid below a given battery swap station.
- It has already completed vehicle-to-grid (V2G) testing and will implement the technology into application scenarios in the future.
- NIO has installed a total of 127,528 home charging piles for customers.
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