William Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of Chinese premium EV brand NIO, has personally proven the capacities of the earlier announced semi-colid-state battery of 150 kWh in a real-life driving test. After some 12 hours of actual driving, the ET7 had 1 044 km on the odometer on a single charge, with 36 km left, according to the Chinese CLTC standard.

In a live stream during that test, Li also announced parenthetically that NIO would unveil an executive flagship sedan, the ET9, that would be able to play in the league of Mercedes-Maybach or S-Class, BMW-7, or Porsche Panamera. And despite earlier doubts, the money will be there, as NIO signed an agreement for a $2,2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi-based CYVN Holdings.

Most extended range to date

NIO claims the 1 044 km driven is the most extended range of any mass-produced electric vehicle (EV). William Li set off with the ET7 at a battery swap station in Shanghai on Sunday, 17 December, at 6:30 in the morning, with the outside temperature at -2 degrees Celsius.

As Chinese law prohibits driving more than eight hours daily, Li handed over the wheel to Nio Vice President Shen Fei for the rest of the mileage. The car drove precisely 12 hours and 24 minutes to arrive after 14 hours in a highway service area in Xiamen, Fujian province.

Average of 13,2 kWh per 100 km

With a load of approximately 190 kg, the car faced an outside temperature of 12°C at its highest point, with 20°C inside. The CEO drove for 92% of the time with the car’s autopilot function NOP+ (Navigate on Pilot Plus) engaged and clocked an average speed of 83,9 km/hour on the entire trip.

That resulted in an average – very reasonable – energy consumption of 13,2 kWh per 100 kilometers for such a large sedan. On Weibo, the Chinese microblogging alternative for Twitter or X today, Li posted that this 1 044 km range challenge “proves the strong product power of the 150-kWh ultra-long-range battery pack”.

Real-life figures

As the 1 044 km were driven in a ‘real-life test’ on Chinese roads, there can be no confusion about differences between Chinese CLTC and European WLTC lab-tested standards that tend to differ by 15 to 25% occasionally.

“This battery is currently the highest energy density battery pack mass-produced globally, with excellent safety performance, and more importantly, all models on sale can be flexibly upgraded to get this 150-kWh battery through the Nio battery swap system,” Li added.

Nio showcased the 150 kWh pack from WeLion for the first time in January 2021, when it took the wraps off its flagship model ET7. As a pioneer in solid-state batteries, WeLion started producing solid-state cells in its Huzhou facility in November 2022.

Weighing 575 kg

WeLion New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is a less-known Chinese high-tech enterprise that claims a series of core patents and technologies. It focuses on R&D and production of hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte lithium-ion and all-solid-state lithium batteries. It’s a spin-off from the Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy of the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Both firms have been co-developing the technology, but the market introduction has been delayed several times. In June of this year, WeLion started delivering 360 Wh/kg lithium battery cells for it. The total pack weighs 575 kg, compared to the 555 kilograms of the ‘regular’ 100 kWh pack.

Swapping on a daily base

Today, Nios have a choice of a 75 or 100-kWh pack, which are ‘swappable’ in a mere three minutes in NIO’s fully automated Power Swap Stations. In the Netherlands, where NIO was introduced as one of the first European countries after Norway, NIO opened its ninth Swap Station, the 33rd in Europe, at Amsterdam South-East. In China, it has nearly 2 300 operational stations.

In its home country, NIO allows its customers to swap 75 kWh and 100 kWh daily, as needed when longer ranges are temporarily required. They pay an additional 50 yuan (€6,39) daily when upgrading. In the Netherlands, for instance, that’s not yet possible. Belgians still have to wait for the Chinese premium brand to be introduced, which could be not earlier than 2025.