Battery Swapping Stations: Quick Maintenance for Electric Vehicles?

Chinese auto manufacturer Nio is spearheading not only a solution for electric vehicle range anxiety, but what could be a business opportunity for quick maintenance with EVs.

Instead of waiting for an EV to charge, drivers in China are being met with an increasing number of battery swapping stations, according to Inside EVs. All they have to do is pull up, and within minutes, their drained battery is swapped with a charged one, and they’re back on the road.

This battery-as-a-service model was first launched by Nio in 2018, and since then the company has performed more than 57 million battery swaps.

Upon parking on a marked box on the ground in front of a swapping station, Nio’s vehicles will recognize where they are and methodically maneuver itself backwards into the swap station. It will do a self-check, go into neutral, and then the main battery shuts off before the car is lifted. 

Fasteners are undone by machinery, and the battery is transported to the back of the station. The car is lowered, a new battery is brought up, the car is raised again, and the new battery is installed. The driver is then billed for the energy used and a small service fee.

Nio has specifically designed its vehicles to accommodate interchangeable batteries, but has seen so much success that it’s been in talks of collaborating with other companies to create a standard, and is beginning to see competitors rise in China. EV battery company CATL has announced plans to launch its own EV swap ecosystem, with GM vehicles to be among the first models planned to be included.

While EV infrastructure in the U.S. is still lagging far behind, the continued rise in battery swap stations could potentially take hold as an answer to lengthy charging times. Designing a vehicle to work with interchangeable batteries like Nio would require some changes as well; though, notably, Nio’s Onvo L60 has a slightly higher efficiency rating than the Tesla Model Y.