Nio took four years to deliver its first 10 million battery swap service and nine months to achieve its second 10 million. Its third 10 million service took six months.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Nio (NYSE: NIO) today saw its cumulative battery swap service reach 30 million times, just six months after its 20 millionth.

This means that Nio averages more than 60,000 battery swaps per day, with an average of one vehicle getting a fully charged battery from a battery swap station every 1.4 seconds, the electric vehicle (EV) company said.

Nio completed its first battery swap station in Shenzhen on May 20, 2018, and vehicle owners were skeptical in the early days of battery swap service availability.

However, as they have experienced the convenience of the service over the past few years, battery swap has gained widespread acceptance.

It took 29 months for Nio to see the battery swap service it offers reach its first one million services, and it took 20 months to go from the one millionth to the nine millionth.

On July 4, 2022, Nio reached 10 million battery swap services, just 1 month after the 9 millionth service.

On April 3 this year, Nio saw its cumulative number of battery swap services reached 20 million, 9 months from the 10 millionth battery swap service.

As of today, Nio has 1,937 battery swap stations in China, of which 574 are located along highways, according to its charging map.

The company aims to add 1,000 new battery swap stations in China this year, bringing the facility to 2,300 by the end of 2023.

(Nio team celebrates the company reaching the 30 millionth battery swap service milestone. Image credit: Nio)

That aggressive infrastructure goal is one of the ways to boost vehicle sales, with the company's co-founder and president, Qin Lihong, saying earlier this year that the company wants swap stations to function to some extent as showrooms in less-developed cities.

Nio initially offered free battery swaps to car owners to build user habits. The benefit has been gradually scaled down over the past few years.

On June 12 this year, Nio lowered the prices of its entire model range by RMB 30,000 yuan and make the free battery swap service a paid option. The option has been no longer available since August 1.

During the just-concluded National Day holiday in China -- September 29 to October 6 -- Nio saw a significant increase in battery swap services, as the travel rush arrived.

On October 5, Nio provided a record 78,233 battery swap services, including 25,021 at stations located along highways, the company announced on October 6.

Battery swap is a far superior replenishment solution for EVs on long-distance trips, saving a lot of time compared to charging, Shen Fei, Nio's vice president for power business, wrote October 7 on Weibo.

Including queuing time, the overall time from when an owner places an order roughly 200 meters away from a battery swap station to when the vehicle completes the battery swap is around nine to 10 minutes, Shen said.

Nio exec explains how battery swap provides better experience on long trips