Revolutionary battery tech but no solid state: Nio's new battery swap breakthrough speaks to potential future of electric cars

Electric car brand Nio hit a milestone this week, swapping 146,649 batteries in a single day, highlighting the ease of use and popularity of the new technology which could be the answer to long EV charging times. 

Battery swapping has been touted as a solution to one of the biggest problems facing electric cars - lengthy charging times. Chinese carmaker Nio has become the latest brand to embrace the tech, seeing it as the future of quickly having EV motorists back on the road with a full battery.

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This time of year in China traditionally sees millions of people make their annual pilgrimages home to see families to celebrate, which explains why Nio has seen the huge uptick in battery swaps as people presumably head off on long journeys.

Nio’s battery swap achievement follows the brand carrying out its 100 millionth battery swap on February 6 proving the tech has plenty of supporters choosing battery swapping over charging.

Battery swapping technology is exactly as it sounds. An empty battery is replaced with a fully charged one. Of course the electric car must be designed to accommodate a replaceable battery, as is the case with some Nio models.

Nio has a network of 3700 battery swap stations in China which can remove and replace a battery in three minutes with owners often renting batteries with the opportunity to upgrade to larger capacity units if wanted. Charging a battery on the other hand can take (on average) about 30 minutes using a fast charger.

Nio isn’t the only manufacturer that has seen the huge potential and benefits of battery swapping. European auto giant Stellantis invested heavily in trialling battery swapping  before it scrapped much of its EV plans.

Nio recently confirmed its plans to launch in Australia in 2026 and bring its Firefly small hatchback to battle the BYD Dolphin, MG4 and Mazda 2.

The Firefly doesn’t have battery swap capacity, instead coming with a 42kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate battery delivering a range of up to 330km (WLPT) and a one–80 percent charge time of 29 minutes.

Battery swapping in Australia is currently in the very early stages of development and it's unlikely carmakers will bring vehicles here with swappable batteries until sufficient infrastructure is in place to service them.