NIO ES8

[Mikehig]

Autocar have a brief review on their website:
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/nio/es8/first...

One interesting point: it is designed for battery-swapping.
The company plans to set up a network of stations in Norway - the first market entry - which will be able to swap the battery (100kWh!) in 3 minutes.
The car will not be coming to the UK, apparently because of the complications of RHD.

[SWoll]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Depends on your usage.

We go beyond the absolute range of our car a couple of times per year and do 99% of our charging at home overnight so would see little benefit from more range, higher charging speeds or a swappable battery. I imagine quite a few owners have a similar experience.

[ZesPak]

SWoll said:

Depends on your usage.

We go beyond the absolute range of our car a couple of times per year and do 99% of our charging at home overnight so would see little benefit from more range, higher charging speeds or a swappable battery. I imagine quite a few owners have a similar experience.

I agree. Swapping batteries would again need more infrastructure. And very complex infrastructure at that, as opposed to pulling a cord.
It seems to me one of these things to appease the people who say "I don't want a car that can't do 1000km in one go" or "I want to stop for 5 minutes and then do another 500km".

[Martyn76]

Fully Charged did a video on this last year, NIO seem to be one of the bigger EV brands in China, video also show the battery swap process

https://youtu.be/hTsrDpsYHrw

[MortyC137]

Finally, an EV that suits my needs perfectly, and it won't be available in the UK. Sigh.

[saaby93]

Tesla offered battery swapping on was it the model S?
Hardly anyone wanted to swap out a battery they'd paid for with one of dubious service elsewhere.

[Ursicles]

Never thought of that.

Given how small the right hand drive market is, wonder if there is a risk that some cars will remain LHD only?

Happens already with ICE engines and with the bulk of the EV companies based in LHD markets, could this become an issue?

[annodomini2]

The most obvious issue with battery swapping is it adds weight to the vehicle.

But the main issue is infrastructure, charge stations are relatively cheap.

Battery swapping would need machinery to do the action, storage for batteries, charge infrastructure, batteries for multiple vehicles.

Significant logistical issues.

[Dave Hedgehog]

annodomini2 said:

The most obvious issue with battery swapping is it adds weight to the vehicle.

But the main issue is infrastructure, charge stations are relatively cheap.

Battery swapping would need machinery to do the action, storage for batteries, charge infrastructure, batteries for multiple vehicles.

Significant logistical issues.

and yet nio have it working in China, having passed 3 million swaps by now

[kambites]

saaby93 said:

Tesla offered battery swapping on was it the model S?
Hardly anyone wanted to swap out a battery they'd paid for with one of dubious service elsewhere.

The Model-S was certainly engineered for it and they demonstrated it; but I don't think they ever actually offered it as a commercial service because they decided there was no market for it. If there's no market for it in the US where people are more likely to drive huge distances, I can't see it being much of a success in Europe.

[rscott]

Interesting opinion piece here on the battery swapping systems - https://spectrum.ieee.org/ev-battery-swapping-how-... .

Although the Ample system looks interesting in the US. They fit an adapter to the EV to allow it to accept their standard battery back, then it can swapped out in less than 10 minutes.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-10...

[HKP]

An article about their battery swapping (and Teslas) here:

https://theconversation.com/nio-what-chinas-star-e...

[doodlebug]

Ursicles said:

Never thought of that.

Given how small the right hand drive market is, wonder if there is a risk that some cars will remain LHD only?

India, Pakistan, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, lots of Africa, Australia and NZ make up some of the hundreds of millions of RHD cars on the planet. Small market indeed.

[DJMC]

More recent:

https://youtu.be/f3J2YxmHTnc


LOVE this!

This IS the way forward with charging. It's was always SO obvious to simply swap out the battery pack. They'll get smaller too no doubt.

I just hope other stupid "charging point" manufacturers take note and follow nio's lead. This solves all the issues with terraced houses, lamppost charging, high-rise flats, waiting for ages to re-charge on a trip away. It's just the same ownership experience as with an ICE car. Drive into a service station. 5 minutes to re-fuel. Off you go.

Five or so Nio centres coming to the UK (5:30).

Excellent!

[jimmytheone]

Audi filing lawsuit against Nio as ES6/ES8 sounds too close to S6 and S8

https://insideevs.com/news/593069/audi-suing-nio/

Meanwhile, Nio ET7 claims 150kw solid state battery and 621 mile range

[anonymous-user]

DJMC said:

It's was always SO obvious to simply swap out the battery pack.

You can fill any petrol or diesel car at a petrol pump because the fills for those can be a standard size and shape. How do you swap batteries for cars of different sizes and types? Ie a range rover with a 100 litre fuel tank fills from the same pump as a picanto with a 35litre tank, but a zoe battery and a ModelX battery are completely different?

Battery swapping is not solving anything and is already obsolete as the fast charge network continually improves and the vast majority of people realise they dont' actually need 400 miles of range very often (yes, some do, but most don't)

Also consider the cost to the manufacturer over the life time of the car? That massive heavy battery must be swapped and any faults that result in a failed swap (and i can think of a fair few) are catastrophic (ie car is stranded)

[DJMC]

All battery pack "cassettes" for all cars are standardised.

Lowers manufacturing costs.

Brands just need to get their heads together, not knock them together.

It'll come.

[C.A.R.]

DJMC said:

All battery pack "cassettes" for all cars are standardised.

Lowers manufacturing costs.

Brands just need to get their heads together, not knock them together.

It'll come.

It definitely won't.

[ZesPak]

DJMC said:

All battery pack "cassettes" for all cars are standardised.

Lowers manufacturing costs.

Brands just need to get their heads together, not knock them together.

It'll come.

Yeah, no. Not going to happen.

[anonymous-user]

DJMC said:

All battery pack "cassettes" for all cars are standardised.

Lowers manufacturing costs.

Brands just need to get their heads together, not knock them together.

It'll come.

So in exactly the same way that a Range Rover and a Micra are fitted with identical engines then? Oh, wait........

(either you'll have a Micra with a battery that costs £30,000 or a Range Rover with a range of 17 miles.......)

Battery swapping could work for certain commercial scenarios where the additional cost of the vehicle and infrastructure can be offset by reduced operating costs from higher utilisation, but it offers no net benefit for private passenger cars.