In January 2021, NIO announced the first battery swap station of a second-generation Power Swap Station 2.0, and it was inaugurated on April 15, 2021.

In addition to the new station, NIO also introduced its strategic partnership with Sinopec. As part of the partnership, charging and swapping networks are being developed, smart electric vehicle technology is being developed, battery-as-a-service is being offered, and recreational facilities are being built.

Sinopec is the second-largest producer of oil and gas in China and one of the largest suppliers of oil and petrochemical products. The engagement of this company with NIO, as well as its plans for deploying 5,000 battery swapping and charging stations "over the next few years," tell us much about the future of transportation.

In addition to reducing carbon dioxide emissions and reaching carbon neutrality, Sinopec/NIO's partnership is the first step in developing green, innovative, and global transportation programs in China.

In its second generation, the Power Swap Station 2.0 features 14 battery slots: 13 battery packs and one empty slot that can receive old or discharged batteries (as well as an older/previous-generation battery if upgrading).

According to NIO, they can swap up to 312 batteries per day (24 hours). A battery swap takes 4.6 minutes or close to 277 seconds (including parking) per swap. In fact, as soon as the driver presses a button to confirm the battery swap, the parking inside the station is fully autonomous.

NIO Power Swap Station 2.0 is an intelligent battery swap station powered by software-defined cloud computing that enables autonomous vehicle entry into the facility. In the NIO Power Swap Station 2.0, 239 sensors and four cloud computing systems will fully utilize visual recognition technology. This technology allows users to conduct self-service battery swaps while staying in their cars with just a click. Battery swapping is now possible up to 312 times per day, which significantly improves the efficiency of battery swapping.

For the battery to be changed from a discharged to a charged state, the machine lifts the vehicle as a whole. Usually, the operation takes no more than a few minutes. At least to jumpstart the EV sales, we'll have to wait and see whether battery swap stations are the right move.

NIO also has one non-technical advantage in China with this system. Electric cars with battery swapping are not subject to price caps on subsidies, typically eliminating NIO. Other brands have also introduced battery swap systems in China in recent months.

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