The Chinese manufacturer Nio has just set a new record with its ES8 electric sedan. This managed to travel 1,000 km faster than any other electric car.
The famous Norwegian YouTuber Bjørn Nyland has just passed the Nio ES8 on his famous test protocol. The objective: to travel 1,000 km, in an electric car, as quickly as possible, on the motorway, but respecting the speed limits.
Until now, it was the Tesla Model 3 Performance which held the record for the fastest electric car in this exercise, with 9 h 15 min. The Nio ES8 has just broken this record.
As fast as a plug-in hybrid car
With only 9 hours to complete the 1,000 km, the Chinese manufacturer’s electric sedan is the fastest of all the electric cars tested by the YouTuber. Best of all, it’s as fast as the Kia Ceed plug-in hybrid which didn’t require recharging, just a quick stop to refuel as well as a 30-minute stop for lunch.
But how does Nio achieve this feat, with the ES8, an imposing SUV with high consumption, the unremarkable autonomy (500 km on the WLTP cycle) despite its large 100 kWh battery, and a fast charge which leaves something to be desired with its power of 120 kW? The answer is simple: it’s thanks to its Battery Swap technology. The Chinese manufacturer has indeed set up two battery exchange stations in Norway. And the YouTuber took advantage of this, since he never recharged the ES8’s battery, but did three battery swaps along the 1,000 km.
7 minutes per battery swap
Each battery swap took about seven minutes, taking into account maneuvers to park and exit the station. It is therefore faster than traditional charging on superchargers. The YouTuber had made the same journey with the ES8 a few months ago, without changing the battery and the total journey time was then 11 h 25 min!
Is this really the solution?
However, this fine performance of the Chinese electric car must be qualified. Battery swaps are a bit of a hassle at the moment. The first is in case of high demand in the station exchange, you will have to wait your turn, and this can quickly waste time if the operation takes approximately 5 to 7 minutes by car. The second is that there is, for the moment, only 2 battery exchange stations in Norway against just over 1,000 in China.
And since Nio wishes to conquer Europe, it will be necessary to work twice as hard to open many battery exchange stations. Which seems to be the case with the opening of a manufacturing plant in Hungary. The Chinese manufacturer could nevertheless make them profitable quickly by transforming them into virtual power plants as we have recently seen.
Batteries that recharge in 5 minutes?
Chinese battery manufacturers do not necessarily believe that swapping batteries is the best solution. It is for this reason in particular that they are working on batteries that recharge much more quickly. Currently, the Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Porsche Taycan recharge from 10 to 80% in 18 minutes thanks to their 800-volt architecture. The Chinese giant CATL announces the realization of this same exercise in 10 minutes from 2023 and potentially 5 minutes in the near future. Provided that the power of the charging stations also follows, but this is already planned, especially at Xpeng.
For its part, Nio has just launched production of its ET5, its sedan equipped with a battery of up to 150 kWh capacity to travel 1,000 km on the Chinese CLTC cycle which is a little too optimistic. It should soon arrive in Europe, starting with Germany.
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Apart from electric cars, what do the American Tesla and the Chinese Nio have in common? Their ability to build virtual power plants, in order to become energy providers. We explain how.
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