In accordance with the previous plan of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio (NYSE: NIO), the changes to the free battery swap benefits for buyers came into effect from October 12, 2020.

For users who have already taken delivery of their cars and those who pay a deposit of RMB 20,000 before October 11, 2020 (inclusive) and take delivery of their cars normally, the free battery swap rights will remain unchanged.

Under the previous plan, first-hand owners can enjoy free lifetime battery swap service. There is no limit to the number of times the service can be provided to car owners and no limit to the number of battery swap stations.

From October 12, 2020, the rights and interests of users who pay RMB 20,000 deposit will be adjusted.

Free battery swap rights remain unchanged for customers who have already taken delivery of their cars and for those who paid for their cars before October 11, 2020 (inclusive), and who are normally scheduled to take delivery of their cars.

In the Nio battery swap system, first-hand owners who drive themselves to a battery swap station are eligible for free lifetime national battery swap service. Nationwide, unlimited distance, unlimited number of times, unlimited battery swap stations.

For users who pay from October 12, 2020, the free battery swap entitlement will be adjusted as follows.

For users who give up their exclusive charging station entitlement, the first 6 battery swaps per month will be free.

If the user chooses to keep the free exclusive charging station privilege, the first 6 monthly battery swaps will be free of charge.

From the seventh battery swap, the full charge will be applied, standard: battery swap charge = battery swap * (charge + service charge)

The battery swap degree is the difference between the number of degrees of the two batteries before and after the battery swap; the electricity charge is the cost of electricity in the location of the battery swap station; the service charge pricing is slightly higher than the operating fast-charging stations around the battery swap station.

Electricity tariff and operating costs vary greatly from place to place, please check Nio App-Charging Map-battery swap station detail page for more details.

Non-first-hand and operating vehicles are not eligible for a free battery swap, and the battery swap charges are the same as described above.

Nio will update the first owner's free battery swap benefits from time to time based on the operation of the swap station and actual usage. Users who have already picked up their cars before the new policy is implemented are not affected by the rights adjustment.

Since the first battery swap station went into operation on May 20, 2018, Nio has laid out 155 battery swap stations in China, providing more than one million free battery swap services to users in total.

Nio claims that, based on the cost of RMB 180 for a single session, this service has saved users more than RMB 100 million in cumulative costs.