Nio Unveils 100-kWh Battery, Upgrade Plans: What Investors Should Know

Nio Inc – ADR NIO on Friday launched its 100 kilowatt-hour battery and also announced battery upgrade plans at a an event in Beijing, underlining its accent on innovation and services.

Nio's 100-kWh Battery: Nio said its 100-kWh battery features cell-to-pack technology, realizing 37% higher energy density, and the new battery increases the NEDC range of Nio vehicles to 615 km.

In 2018, the company launched a 70-kWh battery, which was enhanced to 84 kWh in 2019.

Reports suggest that the company is also working on a 150-kWh battery that could be announced at the Nio Day scheduled for January. This would increase the NEDC range of the company's models to more than 900 km.

The 100 kWh-battery is expected to increase the range of EC6, Nio's latest vehicle model, to 615 km, and the ES6's NEDC range will be enhanced to 610 km.

The improved performance of the 100-kWh battery is brought about by four technological improvements, Nio said: better thermal runaway management, a highly integrated design, all-climate thermal management and an end-cloud bi-directional communication BMS. 

The company said vehicles with the 100-kWh-battery will be available for preorder from Nov. 7.

Related Link: China's Nio Steamrolls Past GM's Market Cap, Becoming 7th Most Valuable Automaker

Nio's Flexible Battery Upgrade Plans: Nio said users of the 70-kWh battery can now choose to either purchase the new battery for a perpetual upgrade or flexibly upgrade for 880 yuan ($133) per month or 7,980 yuan ($1,207) per year.

For the purchase of a Nio car with the 100-kWh battery with the battery-as-a-service model, 128,000 yuan will be cut from the car's price, with subscription for 1,480 yuan per month, the company said. 

Updating on its battery swap, Nio said that as of Nov. 6 it has already deployed 158 battery swap stations nationwide serving over 1.18 million users.

"NIO's unique service system with vehicle-battery separation and battery subscription enabled by chargeable, swappable and upgradable batteries is a breakthrough innovation in both technology and business model, which has converted increasingly more premium fuel vehicle users to opt for NIO," the company said.

NIO Price Action: Nio shares were trading down 3.02% at $41.13 at last check Friday, following a week of stock gains. 

Courtesy photo.