March 14, 2024, Beijing, China - Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (“CATL”) and NIO signed the framework agreement in Beijing. The two companies are set to carry out innovation in the R&D of long-life batteries according to the needs of NIO’s power swap. Shizhe Tzeng, NIO’s Vice President, and Huan Gao, CTO of CATL’s China E-Car Business Unit, signed the agreement on behalf of the two companies. Alan Zeng, NIO’s Senior Vice President and CEO of XPT, and Wei Zhu, Executive President of CATL’s Passenger Car Business Unit, attended the signing ceremony.
Usually the batteries of new energy vehicles (NEV) are under a warranty of eight years. From 2025 to 2032, battery warranties of nearly 20 million NEVs had or will run out, which leads users to issues including driving cars with unwarranted batteries, lifespan difference between the vehicle and the battery, and quite high battery replacement costs. Therefore, it has become a pressing task to address the life span issues of batteries.
With technological R&D and unique battery swap operations, NIO has set up the industry’s first battery lifecycle health operational system, covering the three major conditions affecting battery life: temperature, intensity and frequency. In the meantime, it has further extended the lifespan of swappable batteries through operations and dispatch based on big data, and been able to retain 80% of capacity after 12 years of use. In addition, with regards to battery R&D, NIO has significantly improved the calendar life and cycle life of batteries via research and development focusing on the intrinsic properties of anode and cathode materials as well as electrolyte. So far, NIO has developed full-stack R&D capabilities covering material synthesis, trial production of cells, system assembly, and validation and testing. It has obtained a total of 1,435 technology patents, among which 104 are related to battery lifespan.
CATL has developed core technologies, such as slow capacity attenuation, self-repairing Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) film and lithium supplement, to extend the service life of vehicle batteries. In this cooperation, with the long-life technology for swappable batteries as a key focus, NIO and CATL will jointly carry out discussions, make technological breakthroughs and innovation, and promote product applications. CATL will also plan and develop battery systems of longer service lives for NIO’s upcoming models. The two companies aim to establish a long-term and win-win partnership via the technological cooperation in long-life batteries, with which NIO and CATL are about to accelerate the development and adoption of such technologies, so that more EV users can enjoy battery swap services of higher quality without concerning about the high replacement costs of unwarranted batteries or reduced vehicle residual value due to battery attenuation. Moreover, batteries of longer lifespan also help with the sustainable development of the society.
As a leading smart EV company and the world’s largest operator of battery swapping network for smart EVs, NIO has installed and operated over 2,300 Power Swap Stations globally, and provided more than 40 million battery swaps. Changan Automotive, Geely Holding, JAC Group, and Chery Automobile, among others, have entered into cooperation with NIO to jointly push forward with the development of battery swapping network and unified standards.
CATL is a global leader of new energy innovative technologies, committed to providing premier solutions and services for new energy applications worldwide. As of November 30, 2023, more than 11.67 million vehicles had been running on CATL’s products.
About NIO
NIO is a global smart electric vehicle company. Founded in 2014, NIO has been committed to shaping a joyful lifestyle by offering high-performance smart electric vehicles and ultimate experience. Nine years into establishment, NIO is one of the leading companies in the global premium smart electric vehicle market, and also the first car company listed on the NYSE, HKSE and SGX.
Aiming to foster its own research and development capabilities for core technologies, NIO has developed NIO Full Stack, a collection of 12 technology domains, including chips and smart hardware, battery system, electric drive and high-voltage system, vehicle engineering, vehicle operating system, vehicle connectivity, assisted and intelligent driving, smart cabin, smart power, smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence and global digital operations, which has made possible the industry-leading products, such as SkyRide Chassis System, NX6031 LiDAR control chip, and NX9031 5nm AD chip. As of January 31, 2024, NIO had filed and obtained more than 8,500 patents worldwide. Currently, NIO has R&D centers and manufacturing facilities in Shanghai, Hefei, Beijing, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, San Jose, Munich, Oxford, Berlin, Budapest and Singapore. Its sales and service networks also have an expansive reach in over 300 cities in China, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.
At present, NIO has eight smart electric models in its lineup, including the flagship SUV ES8, flagship coupe SUV EC7, mid-large SUV ES7, flagship sedan ET7, all-round SUV ES6, coupe SUV EC6, mid-size sedan ET5 and mid-size tourer ET5 Touring. In December 2023, NIO's executive flagship ET9 made its global debut, and the delivery is expected to start in 2025. As of February 29, 2024, NIO delivered a total of 467,781 vehicles, leading the premium battery electric vehicle segment priced above RMB 300,000.
In addition to the state-of-the-art smart electric vehicle technologies and experience, NIO has introduced various innovative service models, featuring NIO Power, NIO Service, Battery as a Service (BaaS), flexible battery upgrade plan and NIO Certified which is NIO's pre-owned vehicle program, to offer an ultimate service experience throughout the product lifecycle. NIO is the car brand that owns and operates the most charging piles and Power Swap Stations in China. By the end of February, NIO had installed 2,416 Power Swap Stations and 21,663 chargers, and connected with over 1.5 million non-NIO chargers worldwide. Its battery swap network runs through 13 trunk expressways and 11 city clusters in China. Moreover, NIO has partnered with Changan Automobile, Geely Holding, JAC Group and Chery Automobile in battery swap to jointly promote the development of the battery swap network and industry standards.
Adopting the direct-sales model, NIO offers a series of comprehensive services seamlessly via the NIO app. Combining online and offline touch points, such as NIO House and NIO Space, as well as NIO users' exclusive radio program NIO Radio and the lifestyle brand NIO Life, NIO has created a community that starts from and goes beyond the car, where users to share joy and grow together.
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