"A week ago, we signed a battery swapping cooperation agreement with Changan Automobile in Chongqing, marking the opening of the NIO battery swapping network and NIO Energy Cloud to the entire industry. Changan and Geely are representatives of leading central and private enterprises in the automotive industry, respectively. The joining of these two major automakers will accelerate the unification of battery swapping standards and contribute to the high-quality development of the intelligent electric vehicle industry."
On November 29th, Geely Holdings signed a strategic cooperation agreement with NIO for battery swapping. NIO's founder, chairman, and CEO, Li Bin, wrote in the official NIO app. It is reported that both parties will engage in comprehensive cooperation in multiple fields, including battery replacement standards, battery replacement technology, battery replacement service network construction and operation, research and development and customization of battery replacement models, battery asset management and operation.
A reporter from China Business Daily noticed that before cooperating with Geely Holdings, NIO had already signed a cooperation agreement with Changan Automobile for battery swapping business on November 21st. Li Bin once stated in an internal speech that in addition to Changan Automobile, there are 4-5 other companies in talks.
After marrying Changan and Geely, there are reports that the next potential partner for NIO's battery swapping business may be JAC Motor. On November 30th, regarding whether Jianghuai will enter the NIO battery swapping circle, the reporter contacted NIO Automotive. The relevant person in charge told the reporter, "The battery swapping business is open to all car companies. Currently, there is no information about Jianghuai's entry."
In the view of Zhang Xiang, Dean of the New Energy Vehicle Technology Research Institute at Jiangxi New Energy Technology Vocational College, the cost of batteries for new energy vehicles is already high, and battery swapping stations need to reserve a large number of different types of batteries, which makes the cost of installing battery swapping stations nationwide very high. "There are not many companies in the industry that have laid out their battery swapping business. NIO's battery swapping business has also not been profitable, and the installation of battery swapping stations nationwide requires a large amount of sustained investment. NIO needs to open up and cooperate with the outside world, and needs such an alliance to no longer fight alone."
Geely Joins Moments
Under the encouragement and promotion of national policies, the coverage of battery swapping networks is becoming wider and the battery swapping mode is increasingly favored by electric vehicle users.
It is reported that NIO's "rechargeable, interchangeable, and upgradeable" service system has created the best charging experience in the industry for private car users. Geely's subsidiary, Yiyi Interconnect, has also been deeply cultivating the operating car battery swapping market for many years and accelerating the expansion of services in more cities.
What are the considerations behind the collaboration between Geely and NIO? The information disclosed by both parties to the outside world shows that they are based on the principles of strategic high recognition, sharing and openness, complementing each other's existing business advantages, and carrying out comprehensive power exchange strategic cooperation.
The reporter learned that according to the agreement, both parties will work together to create two major battery swapping standard systems, "private cars" and "commercial cars", through the "joint investment, joint construction, sharing, and joint operation" model, accelerate the connectivity and collaboration of the vehicle end, station end, battery end, and operation end, expand the scale of the battery swapping network, and provide more convenient, safer, and more complete services for users with different needs.
In addition, both parties will also establish an efficient battery asset management system, establish a unified battery swapping operation management system, and cooperate in the research and development of battery swapping passenger cars that are compatible with both parties' battery swapping systems. This cooperation is in line with the development direction of national new infrastructure and new energy, and will accelerate the standardization of battery swapping technology and the scale of battery swapping networks, helping the low-carbon transformation of the automotive industry.
Regarding the cooperation between the two sides, Li Bin said, "NIO and Geely have a deep understanding of the battery swapping model. In the past few years, they have firmly invested in battery swapping technology and networks for both private and commercial vehicles, accumulating rich experience in battery swapping service operation. As a leading enterprise in the Chinese automotive market, Geely Holdings' rapid development in the new energy field is impressive."
In Li Bin's view, this strategic cooperation will further promote the popularization of battery swapping models, allowing more users to have a high-quality and convenient battery swapping experience, and contributing to the high-quality development of the intelligent electric vehicle industry. "Next, we will continue to promote the construction of NIO users' exclusive battery swapping network, continuously improve NIO users' charging experience, and work with partners to start the construction of a battery swapping network for multi brand sharing."
Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Holding Group, said, "Green and sustainable development and carbon neutrality have become a global consensus. As one of the important energy supplement methods for new energy vehicles, the high-quality development of the battery swapping mode requires the joint efforts of all parties in the industry."
Li Shufu said, "Geely Yiyi's battery swapping has achieved good results in operation in multiple cities across the country and continues to develop. Through this battery swapping strategic cooperation, the two sides will strengthen cooperation in the battery swapping industry chain, accelerate the standardization and generalization of battery swapping models, jointly build a new state of battery swapping and energy supplementation, and jointly help the automotive industry achieve low-carbon transformation and high-quality development, creating greater value for users."
Open battery swapping ecosystem
"On the first day of its charging and swapping business, NIO decided to open up to the entire industry. Like the internet cloud service infrastructure, NIO's swapping network and NIO Energy Cloud have also taken a path of infrastructure first, internal closed-loop, full scenario verification, and external opening. On November 21st, NIO signed a contract with Changan Automobile to carry out a cooperation in swapping business," said Li Bin.
Li Bin further stated that after 5 years of development, NIO's battery swapping network and NIO Energy Cloud have accumulated rich experience in research and development, construction, and operation. NIO's battery swapping business is ready to open up to the industry.
NIO is constantly increasing its layout of power stations. On November 21st, the high-speed battery swapping network of the G45 Daguang Expressway Beijing Guangzhou section was officially opened. The G45 Daguang Expressway Beijing Guangzhou section has a total length of 2422 kilometers and is equipped with 31 high-speed power stations, spanning six provinces and cities including Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Guangdong. It is a major transportation artery connecting North China, Central China, and South China. At this point, NIO has connected two high-speed power exchange networks from North China to South China, namely G4 Beijing Hong Kong Macao and G45 Daguang Expressway Beijing Guangzhou section.
The reporter learned that as of November 21st, NIO has cumulatively laid out 2113 battery swapping stations nationwide, including 651 high-speed battery swapping stations, and completed the high-speed battery swapping network layout of 7 vertical, 4 horizontal and 9 major urban clusters. In terms of battery swapping services, relevant data shows that as of November 20th, NIO has provided users with over 32 million battery swapping services.
It is reported that Changan Automobile is one of the four major automotive groups in China, with a history of 161 years and 39 years of accumulated experience in car manufacturing. It has 12 manufacturing bases and 22 factories worldwide. As one of the typical representatives of Chinese automotive brands, Changan Automobile includes brands such as Changan Qiyuan, Shenlan, Avita, Changan Gravity, Changan Kaicheng, Changan Ford, Changan Mazda, and Jiangling.
Changan Automobile and NIO will cooperate in promoting the establishment of battery swapping standards, the construction and sharing of battery swapping networks, the research and development of battery swapping models, and the establishment of an efficient battery asset management mechanism.
According to a research report by CITIC Securities, the battery swapping network has a strong scale effect, and NIO is currently constructing and operating over 2100 battery swapping stations. Ecological openness is expected to achieve a win-win situation for both parties. "In the medium to long term, battery swapping and high-voltage fast charging technology can help alleviate the range anxiety of pure electric vehicles, thereby accelerating the penetration of pure electric vehicles."
Urgent Industry Standards
In recent years, domestic new energy vehicles have always maintained a high-speed growth trend. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to October 2023, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 7.352 million and 7.28 million, respectively, with year-on-year growth of 33.9% and 37.8%.
In the process of rapid development in the new energy vehicle industry, the construction of a supplementary energy system is an extremely important task. The reporter learned that in the current market, the energy replenishment methods for new energy vehicles are divided into slow charging, fast charging, and battery swapping modes.
In terms of charging, according to data from the China Charging Alliance, from January to October 2023, the increment of charging infrastructure was 2.744 million units, including 728000 public charging piles and 2017000 private charging piles built along with vehicles, an increase of 29.4% year-on-year. As of October 2023, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure in China was 7.954 million units, an increase of 68.9% year-on-year.
The battery swapping mode is also becoming better as another major energy replenishment method. For example, in October 2020, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Development Plan for the New Energy Vehicle Industry (2021-2035)", which clearly encouraged the promotion and application of battery swapping models.
In October 2021, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on launching the pilot work of new energy vehicle battery swapping mode application, deciding to launch the pilot work of new energy vehicle battery swapping mode application.
In fact, besides NIO, other domestic car companies are also expanding their battery swapping business. As an example, according to the plan, Feifan Automobile will complete more than 10 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Haikou, and more than 50 battery swapping stations by the end of 2023, to meet the convenient battery swapping needs of more users.
The reporter noticed that although the battery swapping mode is generally improving, it still faces certain development bottlenecks. For example, the lack of unified industry standards is one of the important reasons hindering its development. However, the pain points in the above-mentioned industries are also highly valued by the government and enterprises.
At the opening ceremony of the World Power Battery Conference held on June 9th this year, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xin Guobin mentioned in his speech that research and development of a standard system for battery swapping technology should be carried out to promote the standardization of battery swapping dimensions, interfaces, and other standards.
Zhang Xiang also frankly told reporters, "Charging is now a widely accepted model among various car brands. Although battery swapping is generally a good technology, if the industry does not promote it and most car companies do not accept it, it will be difficult for it to play its role."