Recently, NIO is planning to cooperate with several battery companies, including CATL and Huading Group, to launch a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) business model called “Battery-as-a-Service”. This model enables customers to buy electric vehicles without purchasing batteries, but instead, lease them from the battery providers. The advantages of this model are:
- Lowering the cost of an electric vehicle by reducing the overall price of the vehicle, as the battery cost is about 40% of the total cost of an electric vehicle.
- Avoiding concerns about battery performance degradation.
- Reducing the cost of battery maintenance.
For example, the selling price of a NIO U is between 139,800 RMB to 199,800 RMB, and the battery costs about 83,000 RMB to 120,000 RMB. With “Battery-as-a-Service”, customers can buy the car while only renting the battery, making the overall cost more affordable.
Unlike NIO’s battery swappable design, the “Battery-as-a-Service” model doesn’t require a physical swap of batteries. The details of how it differs from financial policies, and how it operates, will not be released until the official launch. Feel free to compare and contrast this business model with BAIC’s “Battery-as-a-Rental” model.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.