Chinese EV maker Nio's second-generation battery swap station has completed validation and has begun critical pre-deployment testing, with formal deployment set to begin in April, according to Auto Home.

William Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of Nio, and the company's president Qin Lihong were on site for the testing, proving the importance the company places on the next-generation battery swap station.

In January this year, Nio released its second-generation battery swap station, which optimized the battery swap process by eliminating the lift step required by the first-generation station, allowing for faster battery swaps.

The new generation battery swap station occupies four car seats and has a larger battery compartment. It can hold up to 13 batteries and has a daily service capacity of up to 312 times higher than the first generation battery swap station.

It can be activated with a single touch on the vehicle's center screen, and the vehicle can be automatically parked in the battery swap station and automatically change the battery swap pool.

Qin mentioned in a presentation in January that this unattended feature provides the possibility for Nio to bring the battery swap model to developed markets in Europe and the US.

Nio plans to build 500 battery swap stations in China by 2021.

Currently, Nio has about 200 battery swap stations and has provided battery swap service about 1.5 million times.

In addition, Nio has 100 supercharging stations and 792 supercharging piles.

(Second from left: William Li. Third from left: Qin Lihong)