With a gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle, you pull up to the gas station, fill up the tank with fuel, and you’re good to go. Depending on the vehicle, this process can take as little as five minutes.
In contrast, electric vehicles—except perhaps for BYD’s latest models—typically take much longer to charge, even the best-performing ones. But what if you could swap it out instead of waiting to charge the battery?
Why Charge When You Can Swap?
Of course, this would only work with electric vehicles designed for battery swapping. The time and tools required to remove a battery from a vehicle not built for this purpose would be so extensive that the process would be impractical. Nevertheless, as analytics firm Rho Motion reports, battery swapping is a viable technology and could soon see widespread adoption in China.
The company reports that Chinese automaker NIO is a leader in electric vehicle battery swapping. With over 3,100 battery-swapping stations across China, NIO accounts for nearly 70 percent of all EV battery swaps in the country. Further, NIO sold more than 220,000 vehicles in China last year, marking a remarkable 40 percent year-over-year increase.
According to Rho Motion, NIO faces significant competition in the battery-swapping market. Aulton, its main rival, operates over 700 swapping stations in China and supports around 30 vehicle models, particularly taxis, which are seen as an ideal application for battery swapping.
E-Energee, a company linked to automaker Geely, is the third-largest battery-swapping provider in China. Currently, it has 387 stations in operation, but it plans to expand to 5,000 stations by the end of this year.
Massive Chinese battery manufacturer CATL is also entering the battery-swapping market. The company plans to build an impressive 1,000 swapping stations in China this year.
According to Rho Motion, CATL is launching two swappable battery designs, each available in lithium-iron phosphate and nickel-cobalt-manganese chemistries. With its scale, CATL has the potential to dominate battery manufacturing and the battery swapping sector.
Advantages of Battery Swapping
Electric vehicle battery swapping offers several significant benefits. If your vehicle is running low on power, you can drive up to a station, have the depleted battery removed, and a fully charged one installed in its place. This process can save considerable time compared to traditional charging, but the advantages don’t stop there.
Another benefit of battery swapping is its potential for grid balancing. A large collection of charged EV batteries can be used to supply power back to the grid during peak demand, offering significant support. Additionally, swapping could enhance battery maintenance. If a battery is damaged, dented, or has underperforming cells, it can be easily serviced and restored to optimal condition.
NIO currently leads the field, but with more companies entering the market, electric vehicle battery swapping has the potential to become a major trend in China. Whether other countries will try to replicate this success remains to be seen.
Source: Rho Motion
