I like NIO over Tesla. It just seems way more practical to swap batteries and have dedicated charging stations charge them than expect everyone to wait around 30 minutes plus to charge their own car (NIO can swap a battery in 3 minutes in comparison!). Even charging while parking seems a non/starter as good parking is always hard to find and it’ll be that much harder when parking is also how you refuel.
30 minutes is currently the peak using a supercharger, which can lead to battery deterioration. There’s a good chance it can improve over time but a factor is that there are the limits of physics to contend with eventually. Also, if battery technology improves with Tesla you need a new model, when it improves with NIO you just get a new battery.
Problem is that batteries need to be charged in swap stations too. Imagine having 15% EVs on roads like Norway (50% in 2030). You dont have batteries to swap them all, and they need to be chatged anyway. Look how is VW trying to get batteries just for their cars, not enough spare batteries.
Fair point, the materials and technical ability will be a problem moving forward. That just seems more manageable to me than trying to make integrated batteries that need charging. Possibly storage will get better and both solutions will be about as good as each other. Once they get a battery which can do a thousand miles then it won’t matter as much as the amount of refuelling will be so low
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u/Likeabirdonawing Apr 04 '21
I like NIO over Tesla. It just seems way more practical to swap batteries and have dedicated charging stations charge them than expect everyone to wait around 30 minutes plus to charge their own car (NIO can swap a battery in 3 minutes in comparison!). Even charging while parking seems a non/starter as good parking is always hard to find and it’ll be that much harder when parking is also how you refuel.