Replacement instead of charging: Nio stations

Nio stations changed 500,000 batteries in electric vehicles

No matter how fast the “fast” charging of the electric car’s battery is, the process usually lasts at least 20-30 minutes, and a full charge can last an hour or two. In this case, the charge is usually enough for 150-300 km, which only exacerbates the process of replenishing the machine with energy. The solution can be found in quickly replacing a discharged battery with a charged one, which will take a few minutes.

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The Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles, Nio, decided on the widespread introduction of automatic stations for quick battery replacement. To date, the company has opened 131 stations for the rapid replacement of batteries in a number of large cities in China. About a week ago, the network of these Nio stations achieved a significant result – a 500,000th battery was replaced.

Replacement instead of charging: Nio stations changed 500,000 batteries in electric vehicles

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It takes three minutes to replace the battery with a robotic system (in practice, up to five minutes). The electric car drives into the container, where it is slightly lifted, and the system located in the sub-floor removes and then replaces the fully charged battery. Along the way, the on-board electronics of the electric vehicle are tested.

Previously, the American company Better Place promoted the idea of quickly replacing the traction battery of an electric car, but it did not go beyond the demo solutions and was closed in 2013. Tesla also considered this option, but later it switched to a network of fast-charging stations. The Chinese were able to bring the concept to the commercial stage and defended their development with 500 patents. The video below shows the battery replacement process.

For car owners, the proposed solution for “refuelling” cars has another serious plus – a gradual transition to more advanced battery technologies, so that “for life” do not go on obsolete batteries.