EV startup Nio offers free battery swaps

Electric vehicle startup Nio, seeking to win customers, has started to provide battery swap services free of charge for existing and future buyers of its first two models. 

Starting August 24, buyers of the new ES8 SUV and ES6 crossover can obtain a new battery by visiting one of its battery swap stations, Nio said. 

The company previously charged 180 yuan ($25) each time it swapped a battery pack for a customer. 

As of 2018, Nio had installed 80 EV battery swap stations in major China cities and along highways connecting these cities. It planned to build 1,100 battery swap stations across China by 2020, the company said last year. 

Nio was established in Shanghai in 2014 and launched an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2018. It started delivering its second product, the ES6, in June, one year after its first product, the ES8, went on sale.

By the end of July, the company’s cumulative sales of the ES8 and ES6 totaled 19,727, of which 8,379 vehicles were delivered in the first seven months of the year.