Chinese EV manufacturer Nio has opened its second battery swap station in Norway ahead of a larger European expansion of the company’s electric vehicles, battery swap stations, and its Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) subscription service.
The EV maker, sometimes seen as a credible rival to American EV darling Tesla, has been consistently in the headlines, of late, with the launch of EVs and the deployment of battery swap stations.
But it is Nio’s expansion out of its home country and into Europe that is of particular interest, given that such an expansion will pit the automaker against the big names of the global automotive industry.
Nio announced in May of 2021 that it would expand into Europe, starting with a launch in Norway, one of the world’s leading adopters of electric mobility. The company then installed the first battery swap station in November of 2021, and in March of this year began deliveries of its flagship electric sedan, the ET7.
Now, photos from the Norwegian version of the Nio App posted by CnEVPost show that Nio has opened its second battery swap station in Norway.
Located in Vestby district – just south of the capital of Oslo and on the major route to the second largest city in neighbouring Sweden, Gothenburg – the battery swap station was opened in a little ceremony.
Nio is also expecting to begin deploying and operating its battery swap stations in Germany, according to a Tweet from the company’s director for Europe, Florian Otto.
Finally: NIO will start very soon in germany with battery swapping. Fully recharged in 5 minutes. Fully autonomous. Good to see that the German government sponsored „Forschungsprojekt Kreislaufakkus“ studies to understand, if swapping of batteries might be an advantage. pic.twitter.com/iI9EHC2CZv
— Florian Otto (@flotto2508) August 6, 2022
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.