NIO – We have been chatting about electric cars a bit lately. And there are a few issues that need to be sorted. This is before there is more widespread acceptance of BEV from the public. Despite whatever the politicians say
A few of those issues are range anxiety, recharging times on a trip and what happens when the batteries get old and need replacing.
Well NIO, the Chinese electric car manufacturer has come up with a novel concept that helps to alleviate all these issues.
They will sell you a car without a battery. Now that may seem a little odd but hear me out.
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First up the car is substantially cheaper to purchase. What happens is that the buyer subscribes to an ongoing battery exchange program. Much like gas bottles for the BBQ.
This clever idea means that owners can simply drive into one of the battery swap stations and wait 4-5 minutes. Their battery is swapped for a fully charged one and be on their way again.
And as you don’t actually own the batteries, you have no worries about replacing them with new ones that cost more than the car is worth.
Also as battery technology gets better you can benefit from that without extra cost.
The service is only in China, a few Scandinavian countries and one USA CITY at this stage. But the idea has benefits that may assist the uptake of the BEV vehicles elsewhere.
This is a Motoring Minute
Im Rob Fraser
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