NIO: 1,000-kilometre range for the ET7 with new solid-state battery

Existing customers can also switch to the new battery type.

NIO has announced that it will offer a 150-kilowatt-hour solid-state battery before the end of the year, which will give the ET7 a range of more than 1,000 kilometres.

The solid-state battery has a solid electrolyte, the anode material is a silicon-carbon-based composite, and there is nickel on the cathode. The energy density is 360-watt hours/kilogram. The NIO ES8 can travel about 850 kilometres with it, the ES6 about 900 kilometres and the ET7 - the first model in Germany - more than 1,000 kilometres. Existing NIO customers can get the new solid-state battery as part of a flexible battery upgrade programme. Users of this programme can change battery packs monthly or annually, depending on their requirements. This programme has already been successfully tested in some Chinese cities and about 8,700 customers in China are already using this service. So far, NIO customers have had batteries with capacities between 70 and 75 kilowatt hours (Standard Range) and the Long Range version with 100-kilowatt hours.

Those who drive an NIO can choose between three charging options: either at home at the socket or wall box, at public fast-charging stations like any other electric driver, or they can exchange the battery for a full one in a few minutes at the so-called "swap stations". In Germany, the first swap stations are to be built in Munich and Berlin after the market launch. In China, the ten-millionth battery swap was celebrated only recently.

It was not clear for a long time who would supply the new solid-state battery. At the China EV 100 Forum in March, Li Hong, founder and chief engineer of WeLion New Energy Technology, confirmed that his company would develop a hybrid battery with a solid-liquid electrolyte together with NIO. By the end of the year, mass production of the battery with a capacity of 150-kilowatt hours will begin, Li confirmed.