Never Mind Tesla's Dismissal — China's Nio Presses Ahead With This Massive EV Power Solution Plan

Chinese electric-vehicle startup Nio, Inc. NIO, which has been instrumental in popularizing battery swapping as opposed to battery charging, is apparently going all out on the technology.

What Happened: Nio has reset its goals for battery-swap stations and expects to add 1,000 of them in 2023, said CEO William Li in a post on the Nio App on Tuesday, according to CnEVPost. This marks an increase from the target of 400 stations it announced at the Nio Day 2022 held in late December.

If the increased target is met, the company would be cumulatively operating about 2,300 stations by the end of 2023, Li said. The executive sees 400 of the new battery-swap stations coming up in highway service areas or near highway entrance exits, while the remainder will be set up in urban areas.

Li also noted that the company would aim to build battery-swap stations in third- and fourth-tier cities in China as well as in countries that have a certain number of users but no swap stations.

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Why It’s Important: While Nio provides its users with home chargers, public charging, and mobile charging, its battery-swapping stations are a hit with its users. The company promotes it as a service that takes just three minutes for swapping with a fully-charged battery.

EV pioneer Tesla, Inc. TSLA, however, vouches for battery charging. It provides an array of options, including home chargers, and Level 3 charging, which is also called DC fast charging done through a 480-volt DC plug, in public places. Tesla also has its own network of charging stations called Superchargers.

Incidentally, Tesla did try battery-swapping technology in 2013 for its Model S vehicles but did not follow through with it.

NYSE-listed ADRs of Nio closed Friday's session at $10.19, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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