Two big names in EVs announced a new strategic cooperation during the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show. Lotus Technology and NIO detailed plans to co-develop EV charging and battery swap technologies alongside wishes to create a unified battery standard system.
NIO Inc. ($NIO) may be best known for its premium EVs and its recent venture into smartphones, but it’s important to note that the Chinese automaker is the global leader in EV battery swap stations. As of October 2023, NIO has successfully completed over 30 million battery swaps around the world, proving the technology is a viable alternative to standard plug-in and charge EV practices.
Like NIO, Wuhan Lotus Technology Co., Ltd., better known as Lotus ($LOT), is another name with deep ties to China. It has been majority-owned by Geely Holding since 2017. As a result, Lotus has vowed to go all-electric and is off to an impressive start.
To date, the supercar developer has delivered three BEV models: The Emeya, Evija, and Eletre SUV, which just opened up sales in North America. In addition to all-electric supercars, Lotus Technology has introduced its own line of DC fast chargers that are liquid-cooled and can deliver rates up to 450 kW – no easy task.
Today, we can envision a future of even more advanced charging and battery swap technologies as NIO and Lotus shared intentions to work together in order to push the industry forward.
NIO and Lotus team up to reshape EV infrastructure
Following a public announcement from NIO and Lotus CEOs at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show, the new strategic partners shared a press release detailing their plans to co-develop charging and battery swap technologies. Here’s their list of technological focuses to improve upon and co-develop:
Charging and swapping technologies
Battery asset management and operations
Service network construction and operations
Vehicle R&D and customization and connectivity
Build a unified battery standard system
Jointly develop passenger vehicles adapted to the battery swapping system
Facilitate connectivity of battery swapping networks and operators with unified battery swapping operational and management system
Establish an efficient battery asset management system
Press ahead with interconnectivity of different charging platforms
Establish a unified high-power charging technology system and a reliable and shared high-power charging network
That’s quite the to-do list for NIO and Lotus, but both CEOs relayed confidence that two EV-focused heads are better than one. Per NIO founder, chairman, and CEO William Li:
Cooperation is always the best option. NIO has always been open to cooperation in charging and swapping technologies as well as infrastructure network deployment. We would like to work together with Lotus to push forward the development of the premium smart electric vehicle market, make joint efforts in technological innovation and standard unification for charging and swapping, push for a larger-scale, standardized and unified energy infrastructure network, so as to deliver efficient and friendly recharging service experiences to users.
This strategic cooperation has the makings to be something special, as NIO and Lotus share a granular focus on delivering luxury, ease of use, and holistic EV systems to their customers. Both have already proven they have the design and manufacturing prowess to make good on their promises, too – these companies aren’t just idea people.
NIO already operates the largest EV charging and battery swap network in China, while Lotus has quickly become one of the world’s only hypercar specialists to go all-electric and do so effectively, using its proprietary 800V architecture nonetheless. Lotus CEO Qingfeng Feng also spoke about the new deal with NIO:
As an important direction supported and encouraged by the state policies, the innovations of battery swap and ‘vehicle-battery’ separation not only protect battery health and safety, but also enable users to continuously enjoy the dividends of battery technology progress. Our cooperation with NIO to share with each other the charging and swapping resources will allow our users to experience the track genes and ultimate performance of Lotus while enjoying friendly services of NIO’s charging and swapping network across China.
As the companies begin to co-develop charging and swap technologies, much of those initial implementations should hit China first. However, NIO and Lotus are, or are becoming, global EV brands, so we can expect fast chargers, swap stations, and unified battery standards to expand to other markets in Asia, Europe, and beyond.
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These are the first-ever electric trucks in the company’s ocean freight operations, also known as drayage operations. They’ve already started hitting the road at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, with a dozen expected to be in service by the end of the year.
“We’re proud to launch our largest fleet of electric heavy-duty vehicles yet in California,” said Udit Madan, vice president of Worldwide Amazon Operations. “Heavy-duty trucking is a particularly difficult area to decarbonize, which makes us all the more excited to have these vehicles on the road today. We’ll use what we learn from deploying these vehicles as we continue to identify and invest in solutions to reduce emissions in our transportation network, and to impact sustainability in the trucking industry more broadly.”
Amazon picks Volvo VNR Electric semi
Amazon’s electric semi of choice this time is the Volvo VNR Electric. These class 8 trucks have a range of up to 275 miles with a gross combined vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 82,000 pounds. The heavy-duty Volvo trucks ship with a number of safety features that will be familiar to Volvo Car owners, including active collision mitigation, blind-spot detection, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist, and adaptive cruise control.
Altogether, the Volvo VNRs Amazon just added to its fleet are projected to travel more than 1 million miles each year with zero harmful carbon and diesel particulate emissions coming out of their exhaust pipes.
Electrek’s Take
On the one hand, Amazon is making a big deal out of buying electric drayage trucks – which isn’t really big a deal in 2024, since that’s a legal requirement at this point. You literally can’t buy a new, internal combustion drayage truck in California as of this year.
That said, I’m a “celebrate every positive change” kind of guy, and the people who live and work around Amazon’s operations will be literally and figuratively breathing easier with these trucks in operation. As such, I’m willing to give California Governor Gavin Newsom a victory lap.
“California continues to lead the way in setting world-leading climate goals. No other state has created the kind of environment where Amazon and other businesses can lead on sustainability and take major steps forward like deploying this fleet of electric trucks,” said Gavin, in a statement. “California’s climate action continues powering our economy and creating jobs.”
The auto research portal says that’s a $50 drop in the monthly payment with $2,050 less required at signing. As a result, the effective cost fell $126, from $547 per month to $421 before taxes & fees.
The Polestar 2 Dual Motor – list price $55,300 – is a much better deal to lease than the Single Motor model – list price $49,900 – because amazingly, they have the same lease price. That’s basically a free upgrade to the Dual Motor model.
The Polestar 2 first made its debut in 2019 as the automaker’s first fully electric car. It launched in mid-2020 and the milestone 150,000th car rolled off the assembly line in August 2023.
The Polestar 2 is expected to be phased out in 2027, and company says the Polestar 7 will succeed it.
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