There is an update to this story on August 20:
NIO launches BaaS battery rental service, brings car prices down by about $10,000
Original story published on August 17:
NIO said on August 17 that the details of the Battery as a Service (BaaS) plan will be announced at a launch event in Beijing on August 20.
In addition, a new battery asset management company, which will operate the BaaS product, may also be unveiled at the same time.
At its second-quarter earnings meeting, NIO announced significant progress on its innovative business model of separating the car from the battery.
NIO said at the time that it had completed all of the product announcements and certifications required to sell complete vehicles and batteries separately and that the first BaaS vehicles had completed the insurance, loan, and licensing process.
NIO says its BaaS business sees significant progress, will release implementation details in Q3
As of now, NIO has 22 NIO Centers and 119 NIO Spaces covering 89 cities in China. A total of 142 NIO battery swap stations have been built, covering 63 cities across the country.
During the Q4 2019 quarterly conference call, Li Bin, founder of NIO, focused for the first time on focusing on BaaS in 2020 and decided to invest 100 million RMB for it.
"Leveraging our replaceable batteries and our nationwide deployment of battery swap stations, this is a very important system advantage for us," Li Bin said.
At the Q1 results meeting, Li Bin again stated, "NIO's battery service business model of rechargeable, replaceable, upgradeable, body and battery separation has made significant progress. Next, NIO will gradually achieve full-body/battery separation in the third quarter, as required by the new national policy.
NIO is currently planning to set up a battery asset management company to facilitate the separation of body and battery and is currently seeking financing. Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), China's largest automotive lithium-ion battery management company, has clearly expressed its intention to invest, according to a previous report.
Under the battery swap model, in the future, users can set up their own battery usage package just like a mobile phone package.
In addition, after separating the body from the battery, consumers don't have to worry about the value of the vehicle depreciating due to battery loss.
NIO already has a battery rental program for the ES6/ES8, which offers both 70kWh and 84kWh battery pack options.
If the user chooses the 70kWh battery pack rental option, he or she can pay 1660 yuan in 60 monthly installments, meaning it is a 5-year interest-free battery rental option.
If the user chooses the 84kWh battery rental option, they will pay 2,500 yuan per month over 60 monthly installments.
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