Fully charged EV batteries in 5min

Chinese EV brand Nio will launch in the UK in 2024 and its swap stations are in the plan

- JAMES ATTWOOD

Chinese premium EV brand Nio has launched a third generation of its innovative Power Swap Stations, which can now replace the power pack in one of its models in under five minutes - and they are bound for the UK.

The first examples of the reworked stations have gone live in China and the firm has begun producing them for the European market at a new production plant in Hungary. Nio now has more than 1300 Power Swap Stations in service in its home nation and has completed more than 20 million swaps. In Europe, Nio has launched in Norway, the Netherlands and Germany, and it has 13 stations live across those markets, with more than 12,000 swaps completed.

The firm claims that more than 56% of 'charging' for Nio models comes from battery swaps. All of Nio's models are capable of battery swapping and the stations are able to remove the battery from underneath the EV floor and replace it with a fully charged unit. The first Power Swap Station was launched in 2017, with the second-generation version arriving in 2021.