Qin Lihong, President of Weilai Automobile: No profit has nothing to do with the battery swap business

　　China News Service , July 7th:

　　Ge Cheng from China-Singapore Finance

　　For a long time, the pain point of pure electric vehicles has been focused on "replenishing energy".

The charging pile takes a long time to charge and waits for a long time to change the battery. It cannot achieve rapid energy replenishment like a fuel vehicle, which restricts the development of pure electric vehicles.

　　As one of the first new energy vehicle companies to launch a battery swap service, NIO was repeatedly questioned when it launched the service.

A car owner once complained: "It takes 5 minutes to change the battery and wait in line for 1 hour." In the early days, the battery replacement technology was immature and the outlets were not dense enough, which affected the experience of many users.

　　However, with the rapid development of the brand, Weilai has continued to make efforts in the field of battery swapping stations.

Data shows that as of July 6, 2022, NIO has built a total of 1,011 battery swap stations across the country (including 256 expressway battery swap stations), providing users with over 10 million battery swap services.

No profit has nothing to do with the power exchange business

　　"NIO's lack of profit so far is not due to the power station business." At the NIO Power Day 2022 held on July 6, Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO, said.

　　Earlier, the short-selling agency Grizzly Research released a report that targeted the battery swap business, calling it a “scam” for Weilai to exaggerate its revenue and profitability.

　　"How does the restaurant make money by providing paper towels to customers?" Qin Lihong emphasized, "If you change the electricity, as long as the brand of Weilai exists, you will continue to do it forever, until you can't ask for it."

The average battery swap time has been reduced to about 11 minutes

　　According to the data, as of July 6, 2022, 52.3% of the total power added by NIO users came from battery replacement, 24.2% from home charging piles, 0.9% from one-key power on, and 11.4% from drop-in charging.

　　Shen Fei, vice president of Weilai Automobile, said, "The whole battery replacement time has been reduced from about 15 minutes in August 2021 to about 11 minutes, and the home charging pile only needs to plug in and unplug the charging gun, (users) have a very weak sense of time. "

　　"Currently, the penetration rate of users' battery replacement has climbed to 75%." Shen Fei added: "Almost three-quarters of the users have already replaced the battery. There are more than 300 users who have never charged the battery and only replaced the battery. Electricity."

　　NIO community users define residences or offices within 3 kilometers of the power exchange station as "electricity zone houses".

As of July 6, 2022, its nationwide coverage of "electricity area housing" reached 62.1%.

According to Weilai, users who live or work in the "electricity area room" can basically experience the experience of exchanging electricity at a nearby power exchange station, which basically surpasses the experience of driving a fuel car to a nearby gas station to refuel.

In 2025, more than 4,000 battery swap stations will be deployed

　　"By 2025, NIO will build a total of 4,000 power swap stations around the world, with a target of 90% coverage in the power area." Qin Lihong clarified NIO's goals in the construction of power swap stations.

　　Qin Lihong emphasized, "New energy vehicle battery swap is a very important service, and good service is also one of the reasons why NIO's price is higher than that of many international brand cars." (End)