The Chinese car manufacturer Nio wants to set up a network of stations in Germany for its luxury electric vehicles, where empty batteries can be exchanged for charged ones. But do Nio drivers really save time?
AUTO Road Traffic magazine was out and about with a Nio ET7 with a 100 kWh battery and a Porsche Taycan 4S with a 93.4 kWh battery. The problem with Nio: There are currently only two stations at Kreuz Hilden in North Rhine-Westphalia and on the A8 in Zusmarshausen near Augsburg, by the end of the year the network is expected to grow to just seven locations nationwide.
But do Nio drivers really save time?
This means: Even Nio drivers often have to go to the charging station. In the test, both cars were traveling from Stuttgart on the A8 in the direction of Munich and went together to the charging station at the foot of the Swabian Alb. In Zusmarshausen near Augsburg, the Nio went to the battery changing station, and the Porsche charged a second time.
Taycan about twice as fast with fast charging
Result: Since the Taycan uses about twice as much energy during fast charging as the Nio in the same time, Porsche drivers have a clear advantage. Although the charging stations deliver up to 350 kW, the Nio’s charging control reduces the power consumption to a maximum of 114 kW, despite the preheated batteries and mild outside temperatures – even at the beginning of the charging process, where batteries normally tolerate their maximum charging power.
Recharging the battery from 10 to 80 percent therefore takes the Nio 43 minutes with an average charging capacity of 102 kW. The Taycan charged with an average of 215 kW and had charged the battery from to 80 percent after just 20 minutes. The Nio has a range of 328 kilometers in 43 minutes, the Porsche 290 kilometers in 20 minutes.
On long-distance journeys, Nio drivers spend more than twice as long at the charging stations as Porsche drivers.
The Nio can score if the battery can be replaced. In the test, the exchange in Zusmarshausen took 6:02 minutes. The replacement battery was 90 percent charged and offered a range of 360 km. And yet the Porsche driver spent much less time charging in the test: the Porsche was at the charging station for 40 minutes, the Nio managed 49 minutes (43 min charging, 6 min battery replacement).
Conclusion: On long-distance journeys, Nio drivers spend more than twice as long at the charging stations as Porsche drivers. Since Nio will be operating a maximum of seven exchange stations in Germany by the end of the year, Nio drivers will mostly be charging instead of exchanging for the foreseeable future.