"NIO's next goal is to roll up our sleeves and work hard for three years until users can no longer raise any opinions." In early 2023, Qin Lihong's bold words at the NIO New Year Communication Conference were indeed revealed at the beginning. It was verified at the beginning of the year. The original plan to build 400 battery swap stations in one year was instantly increased to 1,000 by NIO.
In other words, in 2023, Weilai will add 1,000 battery swap stations based on the previous ones. Among them, about 400 battery swap stations will be established in highway service areas or highway entrances; about 600 will be deployed in urban areas, including third- and fourth-tier cities and county towns. After the deployment is completed this year, the number of battery swap stations launched by NIO in China will exceed 2,300.
What users need is what NIO wants
Before this, NIO has also expressed externally that the reason for focusing on the layout of battery swap stations is that users continue to pursue the battery swap experience. .
This year’s Spring Festival holiday, NIO’s survey data shows that users have strong demand for “long-distance driving”, so much so that during the holiday, NIO’s battery swap stations provided users with more than 1.245 million battery swap services in one day. More than 370,000 battery swaps were performed on highways alone.
Among the user groups, 18 users drove more than 10,000 kilometers during the nearly one month of the Spring Festival, and the user with the most mileage traveled 19,577 kilometers. Undoubtedly, this mainly relies on the strong assistance of NIO's power swap system.
Correspondingly, NIO’s operating pressure on the power swap system has begun to appear. After free battery swaps became available during the Spring Festival, the average waiting time for each battery swap order was 13.08 minutes. Therefore, in order to improve the battery swapping experience and reduce user waiting time, NIO finally decided to build 1,000 new battery swapping stations.
However, what exactly does the battery swap model for private users mean for corporate operations? What demonstration effect will NIO’s accelerated deployment of battery swap stations have on the high-end intelligent new energy battlefield?
Recently, in the latest online "Hardcore Cloud Salon" organized by the Hardcore Automotive Research Institute, many senior industry media figures and analysts conducted in-depth discussions on this topic.
As one of the first owners of NIO ES6, Han Jia said that her daily energy replenishment is almost based on battery swapping. One is because the battery replacement experience is relatively fast, and the other is that the battery replacement service is free for old car owners. "Some car owners will choose to replace the battery for free even if they have charging piles at home."
He believes that it is definitely a good thing for NIO to accelerate its layout, which will greatly improve user convenience, especially when driving electric cars. Long distance driving on the highway becomes possible.
In Shi Baohua’s view, the most important reason why Weilai aggressively attacks the “power swap mode” is based on user needs. Firstly, the battery swap station provides users with a recharge experience comparable to that of fuel vehicles, significantly shortening the recharge time. Secondly, as the number of users is currently growing, the demand for battery swap stations will naturally grow as well.
Thirdly, as new energy vehicles become popular, the penetration rate of electric vehicles can be described as changing with each passing day. "From 2019 to 2022, the monthly penetration rate of China's new energy vehicles increased from 4.06% to 31.85%, an increase of nearly 7 times. In 2022, the penetration rate of China's new energy vehicles will reach 25%. This data has led the world by 12 percentage points , even reaching three times that of the United States. ”
In Shi Baohua’s view, the penetration rate of domestic new energy vehicles will further increase in the long term, resulting in continued fierce competition in the industry. NIO is investing heavily in the construction of battery swap stations at this time, naturally hoping to further consolidate the "long board" of the battery swap and energy replenishment system to enhance its appeal to users.
Yang Xiaolin, a senior automotive media person, added on the reasons for "user demand": "Users have strong demand for battery replacement. Firstly, the charging method is not convenient when driving long distances; secondly, , due to geographical limitations (such as the old urban areas of Beijing), it is not practical to install private charging piles, so battery swapping is the energy replenishment measure that users rely on most. ”
The battery swapping experience requires continuous iterative upgrades
p>Based on this, Weilai has now built a high-speed power swap network in eight large urban clusters with five vertical and three horizontal directions. The time cost and experience of power swapping on the highway are already better than ordinary charging methods.
In particular, the 600 battery swapping stations planned for this year in urban areas will be focused on urban areas with a certain user base but without battery swapping stations to further radiate the local population. You should know that the term "power district house" comes from the NIO community, which refers to residential and office spaces within 3 kilometers of the battery swap station.
At present, the coverage rate of "power area rooms" in NIO's power swap stations has reached 69%. It can be seen that the layout of NIO's power swap stations is quite extensive and the layout is extremely precise. It is foreseeable that after further accelerating the construction of battery swap stations this year, it will undoubtedly be able to reach more potential users in cities and towns. Furthermore, the existence of the battery swap station makes it possible to have a comprehensive energy replenishment experience that is “rechargeable, replaceable and upgradeable”. Especially it can be flexibly upgraded when needed. For example, before a long-distance trip, you can replace it with a long-lasting battery pack.
In short, the further "encryption" of battery swap stations will allow more people to experience or witness the "zero anxiety travel experience" brought by the battery swap mode, thereby further guiding more people to become Weilai's new customers. Promote experiencers and expand Weilai’s user base.
To put it more bluntly, the more optimized the number and layout of battery swap stations, the more obvious the boost to NIO’s sales will be.
Talking about what an excellent battery swapping experience is, senior NIO user Han Jia talked about the transformation of NIO’s battery swapping experience from youth to maturity.
He said that from the first generation station to the third generation station, NIO has always continued to optimize the user's energy replenishment system from the research and development end. The service capabilities of the upcoming third-generation battery swap station are already quite strong, with battery positions increased to 21 and daily service times up to 408 times, which is 30% higher than the second-generation station. "In addition, the new three-station collaborative working mechanism improves work efficiency like a car production assembly line. The battery replacement time is directly shortened by 20%, which may be faster than queuing up for fuel vehicles."
In addition, Han Jia also said that NIO’s advantage of battery swapping is that it provides users with the number of battery swaps free of charge. Even if they need to be charged after exceeding the limit, the charging standard is based on the “degree” of the new battery, which is not the same as the charging standard. There is not much difference, and the pricing is relatively conscientious. In addition, NIO's flexible battery upgrade solution is also a major advantage. While it can rationally utilize resources, it can also effectively reduce vehicle costs for users.
In Shi Baohua’s view, the first factor for a good battery swapping experience is convenience. There should be more outlets, the speed should be fast, and the battery swapping success rate should be high.
Li Ziliang believes that an excellent power swap solution should not only satisfy users, but also be "profitable" for the company, so that such a solution can be sustained. If we can continue to explore in this direction, NIO's battery swap model will become "sustainable". From this point of view, the battery swap experience will continue to improve in a virtuous cycle.
Long-term sustainable investment is crucial
Since the battery swapping experience is of great significance to users’ energy replenishment, why is it that in the high-end smart new energy battlefield, only NIO is building battery swapping stations so far? layout? Moreover, as the number of power swap stations continues to increase and NIO's user base continues to expand, what challenges does NIO's power swap system still face in the long-term operation?
Shi Baohua said that how to grasp the pace of enterprise development is the top priority. For example, the battery replacement system can form the basis of scale, which is battery standardization. At this stage, Weilai has gradually tried to open up charging and swapping technology cooperation. I believe that with continuous exploration, this company can do this.
Han Jia said that the key challenge for long-term operations is the competition for capacitor resources: "Many brands are planning to launch battery swap models, but physical conditions cannot meet the needs of each brand to establish a batch of battery swap stations."< /p>
Of course, NIO doesn’t need to worry too much in this regard. Because NIO will build 2,300 power swap stations before the end of the year, which means they have already seized the opportunity and occupied limited high-quality station resources. If other brands want to catch up, it may be even more difficult.
The third major challenge is to balance resource utilization, the key of which is the distribution of battery swap stations on highways and urban areas. At this point, NIO, which has built a high-speed power exchange network of "five vertical, three horizontal and eight large city clusters" and has "power district rooms" covering nearly 70% of users, is already far ahead.
New brand plan to help upgrade the battery swap model
The problem is, with the launch of sub-brands such as Alpine and Firefly, NIO’s battery swap model focuses on serving high-end smart electric vehicles Will it be devolved to mid- to low-end brands?
As we all know, Weilai will officially launch the Alpine brand with a price of 200,000 yuan in the near future, and the follow-up economic car brand "Firefly" is also planned. Therefore, the question of whether a new brand is compatible with battery replacement will undoubtedly affect the "car purchase choice" of potential users.
In Li Ziliang’s opinion, the answer to this question should be obvious. He said: "Business laws throughout the ages have proven that the more economical a brand is, the more it needs to be standardized. Therefore, if Weilai can solve the problem of battery standardization, the battery swap mode will definitely appear in the energy replenishment system of the new brand."
In this regard, Yang Xiaolin further added: "Weilai can set different battery replacement prices according to different brands, allowing users to have a psychological balance while taking care of users of the two new brands."
Han Jia It was revealed that in previous interviews, Li Bin had promised the media that Alps would be compatible with the battery swap system. Of course, the specific situation still needs to wait for the final official results. But in his view, it is almost a certainty that the battery swap mode will be applied to new brands, because solving the problem of range anxiety has been Weilai’s original intention from the beginning to the present.
“Weilai has been considering from the beginning the reason why people don’t buy electric vehicles. It is that it is more convenient to refuel than to refuel. If refueling is more convenient than refueling, electric vehicles will be chosen. Reason, so Weilai must make it more convenient to recharge than to refuel.”
At the end of the live broadcast, the last question directly poked at the underlying logic of Weilai’s battery replacement model: “You. Will you choose to buy a Weilai because you can replace the battery?" Regarding this issue, the three guests expressed their different thoughts and opinions.
In Li Ziliang’s view, he will not buy a car because of the advantages of battery swapping. The first factor in buying a car is to look at the car itself. The implication is that although services and experiences other than the vehicle are also important references when buying a car, the overall experience is obviously better if similar energy-replenishing services are provided based on excellent products.
Shi Baohua said that due to different personal habits and preferences, he does not have much need for battery replacement and energy replenishment. If the daily energy replenishment problem can be solved very conveniently through charging piles, he will still give priority to it. Solve the energy replenishment problem by charging rather than replacing batteries.
Han Jia, the owner of the NIO ES6 Founding Edition who is accustomed to battery swapping and thinks it is always "cool" to swap batteries all the time, said: "We can't just look at the appeal of the battery swap mode, but we must also consider energy replenishment comprehensively. Whether the system is perfect or not, in fact NIO’s one-click power-up, that is, the upgraded experience of having a butler drive the car away for charging, is more attractive to me than the battery swapping mode.”
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