China’s EV move changes everything

China is already living in 2050, according to car lovers having their minds blown by what’s on offer for motorists in the Asian superpower.

China is already living in 2050, according to car lovers having their minds blown by what’s on offer for motorists in the Asian superpower.

A video of a car at an electric vehicle battery exchange station in China has gone viral on social media as the rest of the world is left lamenting over how much easier life could be. And also wondering how long we might have to wait until we catch up.

In the one minute clip on TikTok, the Chinese made SUV backs into the exchange station which is about the size of a car mechanic’s bay and waits as a new battery is uploaded from a basement below the station.

You can hear whirring noises like those you would normally hear in a car workshop as the batteries are exchanged.

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2050 is here. In China at least.

The whole process takes no longer than a minute after which the car simply drives off to continue the rest of the journey.

“The western world is arguing over pronouns and men in women’s sport while China is living in 2050,” one commenter on the video wrote.

“Light-years ahead of everybody,” another commenter.

“That’s why the US banned electric cars from China and also Huawei. China would crush Telsa and Apple,” another opined.

While much was made of the little time it took to change the batteries, given charging time for Electric Vehicles is seen as one of their week points, when compared to the relatively easy fuelling of more traditional internal combustion engines.

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The car’s battery is exchanged in minutes.

“Faster than fuelling gasoline,” another viewer wrote on the post.

Viewers pointed out the car is a NIO ES6, a car model which is also available in Europe, a battery-powered mid-size luxury crossover.

Chinese car manufacture NIO was established in 2014 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company is known for its battery swapping stations as an alternative to conventional EV charging. It is said to have more than 1300 battery swap stations in China.

NIO vehicles are not currently available in Australia but one of their smallest and most affordable models the ET5 is expected to be on sale locally by the end of the year.

It’s highly unlikely that model would be available for battery swapping given the lack of local swapping stations.

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Chinese electric car battery exchange station

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No EVs currently on sale in Australia, offer battery swapping ability.

Aussie start-up Better Place attempted to make battery swapping happen here in 2013, but after churning through $750m worldwide the company filed for bankruptcy.

In Europe in 2022 NIO offered a month-to-month subscription service for their vehicles that could not be bought outright.

Then it’s away you go.

Customers could pay around $2000 a month to drive Nio’s electric sedans in Europe.

The company has long invested in battery-swap technology that allows customers to drive their car into a battery changing station to receive a freshly charged energy source in a few minutes.

Owners can drive into the hubs with a flat battery and drive away with a freshly charged unit in the time it takes to boil the kettle.

A subscription to Nio’s battery swap service costs about $200 per month in China.

There, customers can save money by purchasing a car without a battery – much like choosing a “skin only” power tool at a hardware store.

The Nio ET5 is expected to be available in Australia later this year but without battery swapping technology.

Nio says customers save about ¥70,000 ($A13,370) on the purchase price of a car when choosing not to own their battery, though they must subscribe to a battery swap plan.

The Nio ET5 starts from ¥328,000 in China ($A62,690) with a 75kWh battery, or about $49,000 without a battery.

Able to reach 100km/h 4.3 seconds, the Nio has around 550 kilometres of claimed range when equipped with a 75kWh battery.

Originally published as China’s EV move changes everything