NIO released the 2022 NIO user travel report for the week-long National Day holiday in China. Besides some regular data, there are also some interesting numbers.
Among the top three cities that NIO car owners like to visit are Suzhou, Shaoxing, and Jiaxing, which are all cities in the Yangtze River Delta region. There are indeed many NIO car owners in this area. On the other hand, due to the impact of the pandemic, short-term local travel seems to be more preferred.
During the entire National Day holiday, NIO charging stations charged over 260,000 times, of which 87% of orders came from non-NIO brand cars. As we all know, NIO supercharging stations have always been open to other brand vehicles, and because NIO has a battery swapping mode, NIO car owners often go to charge only when they have to.
Moreover, the charging experience at NIO charging stations is also excellent, and the electricity price during non-peak hours at many stations is relatively low. However, because of this, some NIO car owners complain that when they arrived at NIO supercharging stations in the evening, they found that the station had already been “occupied by various online car-hailing platforms.”
NIO battery swapping stations are also bustling, providing swapping service more than 250,000 times during the National Day holiday, and orders at high-speed swapping stations increased by 55% year-on-year.
On NIO Power Day on July 6th, NIO announced that it has built more than 1,000 battery swapping stations nationwide, of which 256 are high-speed swapping stations. By 2025, NIO will upgrade its battery swapping network from the current five vertical and three horizontal four major urban agglomerations to nine vertical and nine horizontal nineteen major urban agglomerations.
During the National Day holiday, queueing for charging at high-speed service areas is almost common, and the situation is even worse at larger service areas. Conflicts may occur to compete for charging piles. Even for fuel vehicles, sometimes they have to wait in line to refuel.
NIO’s layout of battery swapping station networks on highways provides NIO car owners with a faster power replenishing experience. Indeed, in the case of sufficient battery, NIO has achieved “more convenient than refueling.”
During the National Day holiday, NIO provided a total of 5,045 mobile and roadside assistance services, as well as 9,043 vehicle pickup and drop-off services for car owners. For car owners who have purchased the worry-free service package, it is indeed very convenient to call for assistance and vehicle pickup and drop-off through the app.
Finally, NIO House was also particularly lively during the National Day holiday, with more than 280,000 people visiting the exhibition hall. However, many people, like me, may have experienced the exhibition cars and test drives during the holiday. In total, 1,142 events were held at NIO House during the holiday, with more than 18,000 people participating. NIO car owners are indeed keen on socializing.
Final Thoughts
When traveling long distances during the National Day holiday in a pure electric car, it is inevitable to encounter embarrassing situations such as insufficient range and queuing for charging at service areas. However, for NIO car owners, such anxiety may be less than that of other pure electric car owners.
On the highways with the battery swapping network in place, NIO car owners can almost have the same refueling experience as gasoline car owners, without having to wait in line with other pure electric car owners for an available charging station. This is a major advantage of NIO – NIO Power.
Another major advantage is NIO’s service system. When traveling on the highway during the National Day holiday, car owners may encounter embarrassing situations such as tire punctures. NIO provides car owners with comprehensive roadside assistance, vehicle pickup, and drop-off services. “Buying NIO is buying services” is not a joke.
We believe that by 2025, after NIO has connected the battery swapping network in the 9+9+19 key city groups, the convenience of NIO car owners’ travel will be taken to another level.
Would you buy NIO for battery swapping and services? Or did you buy NIO for battery swapping and services? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.
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.