Chinese language electrical car maker Nio has been an attention-grabbing proposition for the previous few years. At the moment, it presents a variety of EVs in China and Europe, and it has plans to at some point launch fashions Stateside as properly. However now, because the EV worth struggle continues to sizzling up, the corporate has scrapped one in every of its most attention-grabbing options for all new consumers.
Nio deliberate to make its vehicles stand out by providing free battery swapping for consumers. This meant that in case your automobile was operating on empty, you might pop into one in every of its devoted battery hubs, pull out your previous battery and trade it for a totally charged, recent one. It’s a neat concept, and one which has thus far seen the corporate perform 20 million swaps at its 1,383 Energy Swap Stations in Europe and China.
Beforehand, Nio drivers had been capable of swap their battery totally free, 4 occasions every month. Nevertheless, Reuters reviews that the corporate is scrapping the coverage for anybody who locations a deposit for one in every of its vehicles from in the present day onwards. Reuters reviews:
“The changes had been mentioned internally for fairly some time and we took recommendation and ideas from some customers,” Nio Chief Government William Li stated on the corporate’s social media app, referring to the value cuts and the brand new coverage on battery swapping.
“It’s the finest timing to publish it … however we will’t make everybody completely happy,” he stated.
However the transfer to scrap free battery swapping doesn’t imply the corporate is giving up ont the concept. It stays dedicated to the bit, and says it hopes to have 2,300 Energy Swap Stations in operation by the top of 2023.
The hassle is a part of measures to make the corporate extra aggressive because it faces challenges from rivals like Tesla and VW. In addition to scrapping the battery-swapping provide, Nio may also reduce costs on a few of its hottest fashions.
Nio will reduce costs by 30,000 yuan ($4,200) for all its fashions, together with the refreshed ES6 and ES8 SUVs. The worth reduce marks a discount of between six and 9 % for Nio’s vehicles, and can come into impact Monday.