NIO Vehicle Owner Uses Battery Swapping Mode to Earn Benefits amid Power Brownouts

Affected by the recent high temperatures, power supply and demand in Sichuan and Chongqing and in northwest China have been tight, leading to the need for power brownouts to ensure the continuity of power supplies to the greatest number of residents. Automotive industry chain and charging pile services in the region have also been affected. Under this background, a NIO vehicle owner shared his benefits gaining from the EV maker’s battery swapping mode.

The community where the vehicle owner is located still has power supply, so he charges the vehicle to its fullest capacity at his own charging pile. He then drives to a NIO battery swapping station and replaces it with an empty battery. His NIO app shows that new energy power he gained was -57.3 degrees while receiving credits that can be used as money to make purchases through NIO‘s online mall.

Under the influence of power brownouts, many car companies’ factories in Sichuan and Chongqing have had to halt production. In addition to vehicle manufacturing, some charging facilities for Tesla, XPeng, NIO and other vehicle companies in the region have been suspended.

XPeng‘s supercharging station in Chengdu and Chongqing are still partially open. NIO vehicle owners said that the official app shows a lengthy queue for battery swapping station access during peak hours, and some of them were forced to go offline.

SEE ALSO: Heat-Induced Power Crunch in China Affects Tesla and NIO Charging

As the power load in many provinces has reached record highs, the State Grid Corporation of China has piloted a peak-avoidance scheme for the charging of electric vehicles in Chongqing, Zhejiang and Hubei. At the same time, 50% discount coupons will be issued to offered to electric car owners to charge at night and other low-peak hours.