A 1000km Journey with Less Than Full Charge: NIO ET7

William Li, the founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, embarked on an extraordinary journey on December 17. Starting from Shanghai, the ET7 traveled 1,044 kilometers without receiving any charges on route to Xiamen, located on China's southeast coast. The ET7 only needed to stop to change drivers during its 648.7-mile travel, consuming only 97% of its battery. This indicates that, when utilizing the Ultra Long-Range battery, the ET7's total range is probably more than 1,075 kilometers, or 668 miles. With a range of more than 200 miles beyond the Mercedes EQS and more than 150 miles beyond the Lucid Air, this would make it the longest-range electric vehicle currently available for purchase. It was a great challenge undertaken by the automobile engineers. Even more amazing is the fact that the test was conducted in freezing weather, which typically reduces range because lithium-ion batteries are temperature sensitive and use less energy in colder climates. Normally in freezing temperatures batteries the chemical reactions inside the battery to produce electricity become slower and less efficient, leading to lower capacity and slower discharge rate in the battery. Moreover, the battery becomes less mechanically stable leading to the possibility of sudden mechanical failure.

With a 150kWh capacity, the Ultra Long-Range Battery is the biggest capacity electric vehicle battery available right now. For comparison, a Tesla has a battery of only 37.5 to 100 kWh. That amount is more than twice as much as vehicles like the Porsche Taycan or Kia EV6, and it surpasses the 109kWh of the Lotus Eletre, the next-highest energy-storing electric vehicle. With a cell energy density of up to 360 Wh/kg, the battery is genuinely revolutionary—it has the highest energy density of any mass-produced electric vehicle battery pack in the world.

The charging technology employed by the NIO ET7 allows for fast and efficient charging. The charging time may vary depending on the charging station. According to Home charging station, charging a NIO ET7 with a 100KWh battery from 20% to 80% can take between 3 hours and 1 minute to 6 hours and 3 minutes with an 11-22 KW level 2 charging station. With Fast charging at a public station, it can be charged in less than 26 minutes.

Using NIO Power's battery swapping system, users can change their cars' batteries to have better performance or longer range than the original options. This works with all NIO models and the Ultra Long Battery. The battery is also offered by NIO as part of its Battery as a Service (BaaS) initiative, which allows owners to save time by having their batteries upgraded or replaced when they run out of power. If the buyer enrolls in the BaaS, NIO models can even be purchased without a battery installed, which will reduce the upfront cost and monthly financing payments. With 33 locations in Europe and 2,289 in China, NIO presently operates 2,322 battery switching stations worldwide. At an average of one battery swap every 34 seconds, NIO has completed over 34 million battery swaps since opening its newest station on December 18 in Amsterdam.