To popularize supercharging above 400kW, it may still require battery swap stations

A while ago, NIO announced its energy replenishment system planning and product routes for fast charging and battery swapping at NIO Power Day. An interesting point in NIO's plan is that the third-generation battery swapping stations to be launched in the future will be implemented in conjunction with 500kW supercharging stations. Will using the advantages of battery swapping station layout to quickly promote supercharging become another unique advantage for NIO in the supercharging era?

500kW super charging pile and 800V battery swap station will be deployed by the end of the year

At PowerDay, NIO released official data showing that as of July 6, NIO had built 1,011 battery swap stations, 1,681 charging stations, and 9,603 charging piles across the country, including 256 battery swap stations on expressways. In fact, the use of battery swap stations is still very high among NIO users, with the battery swap rate reaching 52.3%, while charging at home charging piles accounts for 24.2%.

By 2025, NIO plans to build a total of 4,000 battery swap stations worldwide, including more than 3,000 in China.

In terms of battery swap stations, NIO has an average of 9 batteries at each station, with a total of 3,821 100kW/h batteries and 5,140 75kW/h batteries.

Although in terms of speed, battery swapping is faster than the recharging time required by almost all current fast charging technologies, fast charging is still an important module in NIO's recharging system.

NIO released a 500kW ultra-fast charging pile at NIO Power Day, which can achieve a peak current of 650A. Like other high-power fast charging piles, this charging pile uses liquid-cooled gun wire, is compatible with global standards, and supports intelligent interaction, multiple payment methods, etc. The most important thing is that it will be deployed by the end of this year.

Although NIO does not yet have a model that supports 500kW charging, many car companies have already released 800V electrical platforms, all of which support ultra-fast charging of more than 400kW. For example, the Xiaopeng G9, which is expected to be launched in the third quarter of this year, adopts an 800V architecture and supports up to 480kW fast charging. In addition, domestic and foreign car companies including GAC Aion, BYD e3.0 platform, Geely Haohan architecture, Ideal, BAIC Arcfox, Great Wall, Dongfeng Lantu, Hyundai E-GMP5, Mercedes-Benz EVA, GM Autonen, etc. have launched 800V high-voltage platforms, and related models will be launched in the second half of this year and next year.

The 500kW charging piles that NIO started to deploy at the end of the year can provide fast charging services for other models on the market at that time, such as Xiaopeng G9 and Alpha SHI. In other words, NIO may also operate around the battery swap station to meet the demand for ultra-fast charging.

Of course, in order to move towards the 800V high-voltage platform, the battery pack also needs to undergo drastic innovation. NIO said that the third-generation battery swap station has a more flexible layout, higher compatibility, and can support more battery types. The 800V high-voltage electrical platform battery pack and supporting battery swap system that will be open to the entire industry in the future are also in progress, but NIO has not announced the specific release time.

Battery swap stations + supercharging stations, a layout 5 years ahead of the times?

It can be found that most of the fast charging piles on the market currently have an actual power of only about 100kW, and if you want a higher charging power, you need to go to the supercharging stations of various brands for charging. For example, Tesla supercharging stations support up to 250kW fast charging, but due to the high power of this supercharging station, the power design load capacity in many places cannot support the power consumption of the supercharging station. Taking Guangzhou Baiyun Hotel as an example, the building's power design load is 3120kW. If two 480kW charging piles that Xiaopeng Motors will launch in the future are installed, then these two charging piles will consume one-third of the total load of the entire hotel when they are working, which is unacceptable to the operator.

In order to deal with this situation, charging stations with integrated charging and storage have become a feasible solution. First, through the energy storage module, it is possible to realize the profit of the price difference between off-peak and off-peak electricity prices. In addition, it can provide a buffer for the local power load. That is, the super charging pile obtains electricity from the energy storage module, and does not need to directly pass through the power grid to cause safety problems such as power overload.

The question is, if the 800V platform becomes popular, in order to widely distribute supercharging stations, energy storage systems must be included at the beginning of construction or added later.

But under this trend, NIO's battery swap model, which has been considered an "investment black hole" before, can cater to supercharging piles to realize a new business model. Taking NIO's second-generation battery swap station as an example, a battery swap station is equivalent to an energy storage station with a maximum capacity of 1300kW/h. After the third-generation battery swap station supports 800V platform battery packs, the storage capacity and the number of battery packs will be higher. Then these battery packs that serve as energy storage at specific times can provide part of the power for supercharging piles and reduce the power load in the area. In other words, NIO can form a charging and battery swap system around the battery swap station.

It is worth mentioning that NIO also provided a data that at present, more than 80% of the charging capacity of NIO charging piles is used for non-NIO brand models. This number already feels a bit like a charging operator. Compared with other charging operators or car companies, when deploying supercharging above 400kW, NIO has the ready-made energy storage equipment of battery swap stations, which is the biggest first-mover advantage. This advantage is determined by NIO's current almost monopolistic battery swap model.

However, it is too early to say that the model of battery swapping and supercharging will be successful. First of all, the popularity or penetration rate of models supporting the 800V platform is still unknown. Under the consideration of factors such as cost, the 400V platform may be the mainstream for a long time in the future, so the actual demand for supercharging piles may not be as high as expected. In addition, as urban construction is updated, the power load may also be upgraded, and supercharging stations may not need to invest in expensive energy storage equipment.