Analysis of Battery Swapping Technology for Electric Vehicles – Using NIO’s Battery Swapping Technology as an Example
Yusheng Zhang
Abstract
The electric vehicle (EV) industry is growing rapidly at the moment. However, refueling an electric vehicle could be a time-consuming process. This was the case until the emergence of battery swapping technology. Using the battery swapping technology developed by EV manufacturer NIO as an example, this paper aims to analyze the history, current state, and future of the technology. In order to conduct the analysis, data provided by the EV industry is closely examined, as data from NIO is compared with data from other aspects of the EV industry. Through the analysis, it is found that the battery swapping technology provides efficiency and convenience, but is of high cost and lacks adequate infrastructure on a larger scale. Battery swapping technology has a promising future, but in order to effectively compete with conventional technologies such as charging stations, it would be beneficial for the technology to cut down on cost and expand its infrastructure.