Chinese EV Maker NIO Signs Strategic Agreement with Shell

[G. David Felt]

Founder, Chairman and CEO of NIO, William Li announced with Executive VP István Kapitány of Shell Mobility have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to collaborate on electric vehicle charging and battery swapping across China and all of Europe.

Nio and Shell will jointly construct and operate the battery charging and swapping facilities. Initial phase 1 will be to have 100 battery stations up and running in China by 2025 and to jointly build and operate an undisclosed number of stations across Europe by 2022 that will be available to NIO customers. 

NIO started auto deliveries to Norway this fall of 2021 marking its first step outside China in opening up new territories of business. In 2022 NIO will expand sales across Europe with both retail and commercial offerings. NIO started in 2018 in China and has delivered over 100,000 electric vehicles.

Shell is one of the world's largest gasoline retailers and has announced they plan to be a leading charging service provider worldwide as they add charging to their global station network.

Together NIO and SHELL will explore and collaborate on opportunities in global battery asset management, fleet management, membership system, home charging services, advanced battery charging and swapping technology development and construction of fast charging facilities.

NIO and SHELL have both stated this cooperation demonstrates the ability to use the strengths of both companies as they accelerate the energy transition and commitment to sustainable development globally.

NIO has stated that this agreement will help accelerate the existing NIO stations in China of which NIO operates 301 battery swap stations, 204 power charging stations and 382 destination charging stations in China. NIO has completed as of this announcement 2.9 million battery swaps and 600,000 uses of One-Click-for-Power services.

NIO and Shell agreement will help NIO achieve going beyond their current target of having 700 battery swap stations by the end of 2021. From 2022 to 2025 NIO / SHELL will build an additional 600 battery swap stations in China and by the end of 2025 NIO / SHELL plans to have over 4,000 battery swap stations globally.

NIO has also announced that the NIO Power Charging ans swapping system, as well as BaaS (Batter-as-a-Service), will be fully available to the global industry.

NIO has expanded on what Tesla once thought and considered for battery swapping which can be done in 90 seconds or so on a Tesla, but costs of $60 to $80 per swap made it too expensive for CEO Musk. As such Tesla has continued to push charging only and improvements to their battery tech saying that BSM (battery Swap Mode) will go away as the industry focuses on fast charging only. NIO does not believe BSM will get kicked out as NIO autos can be charged or swapped depending on the needs of the customer and with BaaS (Battery-as-a-Service) this gives customers more options in being able to purchase the auto they want and only pay for larger battery packs when they need them for say a long road trip. NIO believes BSM, BaaS and self-charging are not in conflict but complement each other based on the needs at the time for the customer. This battery tech option allows customers to recharge, replace or upgrade at the users choice and convenience rather than forcing a single option on them.

Does the Battery Matter?

Tesla has chosen to take the supercharger station as the focus to eventually get to where ICE autos are with recharging in 5 to 10 minutes to a full battery pack. NIO believes that a battery swap of a depleted one for a fully charged one is a better option especially when one might want to go to a larger or smaller battery pack depending on driving needs.

NIO BaaS allows owners to buy the auto they want without a battery pack. This allows a savings of $10,000 dollars on average for all of the NIO models, NIO owners then subscribe to a 70 kilowatt battery subscription for $142 a month, stopping by battery swap stations to get a fully charged one when it is needed.

NIO admits that the BaaS is a great tool to get user feedback on battery performance and user preferences as they can move up or down in battery size depending on their driving needs.

NIO owners have loved the battery swapping service which on average takes only 10 minutes or less. Customers have also stated they love the reservation system to ensuring a fully charged battery is ready for them ahead of their arrival at the station. This makes for a convenient road trip system.

NIO offers a wide range of EVs from the NIO EP9 performance car to the CUV 6 series with the ET7 sedan and ES8 CUV in between serving the needs of all customers.

EP9

ES8

ET7

EC6

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