NIO opens its first battery swapping station in Belgium

Chinese premium EV brand NIO has opened its first battery-swapping station in Belgium, at the Hotel & Congress Ter Elst center, at the Kattenberg 1 in Edegem, parallel to the E19 highway. That might sound bizarre, as the brand hasn’t officially been sold in Belgium yet, and no launch date has been communicated so far.

NIO says the location was chosen carefully, as many Dutch NIO owners use the E19 for a business or holiday trip to the south, where Edegem – just south of Antwerp – is right on the route. For example, a battery change is sufficient to drive directly to Paris without stops.

Hotels with charging infrastructure

NIO chooses convenient locations for its swapping stations, often at hotels with already existing charging infrastructure. The NIO Power Swap Station in Edegem has the capacity for 13 battery packs and can theoretically perform 312 power swaps per day.

A battery change is completed in three minutes, meaning NIO users are always on the road again quickly and don‘t lose any time. The company says the Power Swap Station is suitable for all NIO models, both for the Standard Range versions with a 75 kWh battery pack and the Long Range versions with a 100 kWh battery pack.

Swapping a 75 or 100-kWh battery underneath the car is a seamless, fully automated process, as we could experience ourselves test-driving the ET7 and ET5 sedans at the NIO Power Swap station in Tilburg. However, the tech can fail in some highly occasional circumstances, as we coincidentally could experience.

You can ask the onboard digital assistant, Nomi, who sits with blinking eyes in the middle of the dashboard, to find a swapping station and make a reservation through the navigation software or the NIO app.

Upon arrival, Nomi will guide you to have the car park itself in the carwash-like box rearward without touching the steering wheel, throttle, or brake pedals. Once in place, the car is checked for software updates, and the process starts by positioning the vehicle sideward a few inches on the moving wheel paths to the exact position needed.

Invisible Chinese gnomes

You feel the car is lifted for a few inches on its air suspension, and then the actual work begins. Clicking and knocking noises underneath the vehicle indicate the swapping process started as if a legion of invisible Chinese gnomes were working on disconnecting the old one and replacing it with a new, fully charged battery.

You’re expected to stay in the car, as opening the doors would stop the process for safety reasons. But, when viewing from a distance, everything is shielded neatly during the whole process. The dash screens go dark for a while to light up again, showing the 100 kW battery is ready with a new 520 km range, and a green light indicates you can pursue your journey.

Murphy’s law

That is, if Murphy’s law doesn’t throw a spanner in the works. Everything went smoothly as described before, but while unscrewing the bolts, one got too loose and slipped under the battery while it was lowered.

Result: The 500 kg battery shifted a few millimeters sideways, triggering the alarm. You are helpless with a 100 kWh battery lying on the floor and the car’s 12-V system draining rapidly, so the car warns you to shut off.

This was new for NIO Netherlands and quite embarrassing for a press car, as a ‘rescue’ squad had to be dispatched from the headquarters. However, all other swaps we performed with an NIO car until now went smoothly.

More than 100,000 swaps in Europe

NIO claims to have performed over 100,000 swaps in Europe so far. Its most popular Power Swap Station is located near Oslo and realizes more than 1,000 swaps per month.

“Once users discover the convenience and time–saving of power swaps, it quickly becomes their preferred solution,” explains Kajsa Ivansson Sognefur, Head of Power Europe at NIO. “With nearly 60 active Power Swap Stations in Europe and additional stations in the pipeline, users can spend more time on the things that matter.”