thanks for the good writeup. I noticed you did not bring up the energy sector of NIO, that is 3000+ battery swapp kiosk, which later to be upgraded to a smart grid battery swap kiosk that could balance power grid and nio EV battery. A battery swap take around 3min to replace and replenish a new battery.
Thanks for raising this. My article was a mid-year review of China’s EV startups, so it couldn’t cover every product or business line in detail.
On NIO’s battery swapping, the company reports more than 3,500 swap stations and 27,000 chargers worldwide. A swap takes around three minutes, but profitability is still elusive. Management has said the breakeven point is about 60 swaps per station per day, while the current average is only in the 30s, leaving most stations loss-making. Estimates put annual operating costs per station in the hundreds of thousands of RMB, which adds up quickly.
NIO has invited other automakers to join a “swap alliance,” though adoption beyond its own models remains limited.
In short, battery swap is a bold strategic move, but it is still a costly bet rather than a proven profit engine.
this is actually a killer app for sticky moat, a massive infrastructure nation wide that Elon had toyed about when he was about to build his tesla EV but given up.
thanks for the good writeup. I noticed you did not bring up the energy sector of NIO, that is 3000+ battery swapp kiosk, which later to be upgraded to a smart grid battery swap kiosk that could balance power grid and nio EV battery. A battery swap take around 3min to replace and replenish a new battery.
Thanks for raising this. My article was a mid-year review of China’s EV startups, so it couldn’t cover every product or business line in detail.
On NIO’s battery swapping, the company reports more than 3,500 swap stations and 27,000 chargers worldwide. A swap takes around three minutes, but profitability is still elusive. Management has said the breakeven point is about 60 swaps per station per day, while the current average is only in the 30s, leaving most stations loss-making. Estimates put annual operating costs per station in the hundreds of thousands of RMB, which adds up quickly.
NIO has invited other automakers to join a “swap alliance,” though adoption beyond its own models remains limited.
In short, battery swap is a bold strategic move, but it is still a costly bet rather than a proven profit engine.
this is actually a killer app for sticky moat, a massive infrastructure nation wide that Elon had toyed about when he was about to build his tesla EV but given up.
thank you 😊
it is a well written report for china EV landscape.