Nio’s 4th-Gen Battery Swap Stations Show Tesla’s Missed Opportunity

It’s been more than a decade since Tesla previewed battery swap technology for the Model S and while the world’s leading EV manufacturer later abandoned this tech in favor of rapid charging solutions, Chinese brand Nio has taken the battery swap idea and run with it. Indeed, its battery-swapping technology is already in its fourth generation.

The new-and-improved Nio battery swap station was unveiled by the carmaker earlier this month and has been introduced in areas in Guangzhou and Lu’an. Nio already has more than 2,400 swapping stations across China, and its fourth-generation version will be particularly crucial as it offers support for vehicles from multiple brands.

Read: Nio Nukes Tesla Model Y’s Price Point With New Onvo L60 Crossover

These new stations are quicker than the three previous generations and can swap out a battery pack in just 2 minutes and 24 seconds, a 22% improvement. Additionally, the stations can now house 23 battery packs at any time, meaning a single station can perform as many as 480 swaps daily. Nio has also equipped the new stations with 6 wide-angle Lidar units and 4 advanced Orin X chips, meaning battery swapping can be initiated without a driver behind the wheel.

However, the flexibility of the new stations to support other brands is most important. For starters, the new stations can swap out the batteries used by Nio’s entry-level Onvo brand, whereas the existing third-generation stations need to be modified to support these packs. The stations are also flexible enough to support vehicles from other brands. That’s crucial as Nio has signed deals with companies including Geely, Cherry, FAW, GAC, and Changan to share its battery-swapping tech.

The first of these new stations was opened in Guangzhou Lingnan Huade Plaza and joins 107 other Nio stations across the city.