After the opening of the first European battery swap station last month in the municipality of Lier, about forty kilometers west of Oslo, Norwegians are starting to grumble about Chinese promises. The station is a concentrate of technology that can change the rules of the electric car game by allowing the entire battery pack to be replaced in less than 5 minutes with a fully automatic operation, a bit like when you opt for a quick wash. of the car. In fact, it is enough to enter a box that happens to be similar to those of the car wash. From there the cylinders on the floor move the car to a second lane where a robotic trolley detaches the battery from the bottom of the car, places it in a charging space, takes a charge and mounts it under the car. It performs a control test and after less than 5 minutes puts the car back in the exit lane, ready to drive away.
These are the Power Swap Station 2.0, second generation stations but the first to arrive in Europe, by the Shanghai-based car manufacturer Nio, which has chosen Norway, the country with the highest percentage of electric cars for landing in the Old Continent. A hyper-technological system that on paper has already convinced 92% of customers who have purchased or booked a Nio car, with the exclusive Battery as a Service (BaaS) option, i.e. without the proprietary battery but with a monthly subscription that allows battery rental with the possibility of using the Power Swap Stations for quick replacement or, in the absence of it, the network of recharging columns.
A system that on paper would allow up to 312 battery changes per day, more than the cars currently equipped with this system in the country such as the Nio ES8 which have just exceeded 200 units sold. The only problem, which is starting to create some discontent among Nio customers, is the development of these stations, as promised by the manufacturer. Only in September last year Marius Hayler, Nio general manager of Norway announced that “by the end of 2021, our goal is to build four exchange stations in and around the Oslo region to provide users with an experience where we he cares as little as possible about autonomy. With the interchange stations, you can easily travel in your car on weekends without recharging ”. And then, he added the achievement of at least 20 power stations for this year, explaining that “in the course of 2022, our plan is to bring swap stations to Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim and Kristiansand. But I assure you that the Nio Power exchange stations will also be located in other locations in Norway ”.
On November 12th, Florian Otto, communications director of Nio Europe, announced that “Nio is ready! The first battery exchange station in Europe. Just a few weeks. Game Changer for charging infrastructures. Norway first! Soon also Germany. Fully recharged in minutes. Here we are!”. The fact is that the first station arrived only at the end of January and not even where everyone expected or in the capital Oslo where the largest number of Chinese electricity owners are concentrated who if they want to give up the column, the main reason for buying with the system. BaaS, will have to travel 80 km there and back to reach the power station. Which with the strict Norwegian limits means taking about an hour and a half of walking. Far too much. And the groans of users, at least until the commitment to open the first stations in the capital is maintained, continue.