Daily Archive: April 3, 2023

NIO reaches 20 million battery swap service milestone

's battery swap stations now provide over 45,000 services per day.  |  NIO US | NIO HK | NIO SG

(Image credit: NIO)

NIO (NYSE: NIO) today saw its cumulative battery swap service reach 20 million, with an average of 45,000 services provided daily.

The electric vehicle (EV) maker announced the milestone today on its mobile app, just 273 days, or nine months after it saw its 10 millionth battery swap service on July 4 of last year.

It took the company 1,506 days, or more than four years, to see its first 10 million battery swap services provided.

On February 5, more than 60 percent of the power NIO provides to owners was provided through battery swap stations, and the facility has become a favorite way for NIO customers to replenish their vehicles, it said.

Currently, NIO's battery swap stations provide an average of more than 45,000 services a day, which equates to an average of one NIO vehicle receiving a fully charged battery from these stations every 1.9 seconds.

The 20 million battery swap services can support more than 5,106 million kilometers of driving and reduce carbon emissions by about 550,286 tons, the company said.

NIO's battery swap stations not only provide vehicles with fully charged batteries but also allow owners to easily upgrade their battery packs.

To date, NIO has provided 63,136 battery upgrades to customers, allowing them to continue to enjoy the benefits of battery technology advancements, the company said.

As of today, NIO has 1,327 battery swap stations and 2,442 charging stations in China, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

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

The aggressive infrastructure goal is one of the ways to boost sales, and the company's co-founder and president, Qin Lihong, said in a recent interview with local media that the company hopes swap stations will serve partly as showrooms in less developed cities.

On April 1, William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, reiterated that the company's of battery swap station network is open to other brands and compared the service to cloud services.

NIO's battery swap stations have a good degree of adaptability and the time has come to offer their output to the outside, Li said.

NIO's battery swap network open to other brands, just like cloud service, says William Li

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BYD chairman calls on China to extend NEV tax exemption until 2025

The world economy is currently in a difficult period of complexity and change, and dealing with risks and challenges requires firm confidence and stable expectations, Wang said.  |  BYDDY.US | HK

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

China's purchase tax exemption for new energy vehicles (NEVs) expired at the end of last year and has been extended until the end of this year. Now, calls are starting to emerge for the policy to be renewed.

Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY), suggested in an April 1 speech at the China EV 100 Forum that China should extend the NEV purchase tax exemption to 2025, hoping the move would be fast-tracked to stabilize expectations, according to a video replay seen by CnEVPost.

Before 2023, China's policies to support the NEV industry include purchase subsidies as well as exemptions from purchase taxes.

NEV purchase subsidies have been reduced each year over the past several years on a set schedule and were completely withdrawn when they expire at the end of 2022.

The NEV purchase tax exemption originally expired at the end of 2017, but was renewed until the end of 2020 before it expired, and in March 2020, China renewed the policy until the end of 2022. Last year, the policy was renewed again until the end of 2023.

The world economy is currently in a difficult period of complexity and change, and dealing with risks and challenges requires firm confidence and stable expectations, Wang said, adding that many overseas countries are increasing their fiscal support for NEVs.

China's purchase subsidies for NEVs were withdrawn at the end of last year, and the exemption of NEV purchase tax has been clarified to continue until the end of this year, Wang noted.

Considering the long development cycle of NEVs, from product development and design to cost management, long-term arrangements need to be made, so he hopes the NEV purchase tax exemption policy will be extended, according to Wang's speech.

In addition to Wang, Meng Xia, head of sales for Volkswagen China, also suggested at the China EV 100 Forum event that China should extend the purchase tax exemption for NEVs beyond 2023 and develop a relatively stable policy framework.

It is worth noting that with the rapid growth of NEV penetration, the continued extension of the purchase tax exemption for such vehicles would mean a bigger loss in government tax revenue.

For the full year 2022, retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China were 5.67 million units, up 90 percent year-on-year and accounting for 27.6 percent of all new passenger vehicle sales, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) in January.

In February, retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China were 439,000 units, up 61 percent year-on-year, contributing 31.6 percent of all passenger vehicle sales.

In the future, as the ownership of conventional internal combustion engine vehicles shrinks dramatically, the shortfall in national tax revenue will need to be filled by a tax system for electric vehicles, the CPCA said in a report released on August 9, 2022.

Taxing electric vehicles at the point of purchase and use and even at the point of retirement is a definite trend, the CPCA said at the time.

BYD aims to sell at least 3 million vehicles this year

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Lithium carbonate prices likely to fall below RMB 100,000, says chairman of battery maker Farasis Energy

Lithium prices continue to fall in China today, with the average price of industrial-grade lithium carbonate falling below RMB 200,000 per ton for the first time in the current down cycle.

Lithium carbonate prices likely to fall below RMB 100,000, says chairman of battery maker Farasis Energy-CnEVPost

A Chinese battery maker's chairman believes lithium carbonate prices could even fall below RMB 100,000 ($14,530), with the battery raw material not seeing a single day of gains this year.

In 2022, the supply and demand for lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide were actually in balance, and there was a lot of hype behind the price surge, Farasis Energy's chairman Wang Yu said in an interview during the China EV 100 Forum yesterday, according to Yicai's report.

Based on this situation this year, the price of lithium carbonate is expected to drop rapidly, Wang said.

Lithium carbonate prices have already dropped to RMB 250,000 per ton and are expected to drop further, to below RMB 100,000 is very likely, he said.

Lithium carbonate prices in China continued to fall today, with the average price of industrial-grade lithium carbonate falling below 200,000 yuan per ton for the first time in the current down cycle.

Battery-grade lithium carbonate fell RMB 12,500 per ton today to an average price of RMB 232,500 per ton, while industrial-grade lithium carbonate fell RMB 10,000 per ton to an average price of RMB 195,000 per ton, according to figures from Mysteel monitored by CnEVPost.

Lithium carbonate resources are not in short supply, and the raw material is not very difficult to produce now, and the industry will return to its normal operations, Wang said.

The actual cost of lithium carbonate per ton is around RMB 30,000, and there is no reason for it to go up to RMB 500,000 or 600,000, he said.

The automotive and battery industries contributed at least RMB 100 billion in profits to the lithium industry last year due to rising raw material prices, Wang said.

At one point in late November last year, battery-grade lithium carbonate was quoted at RMB 590,000 per ton in China, about 14 times the average price of RMB 41,000 per ton in June 2020.

Since then, lithium carbonate quotes have continued their downward spiral, and have not seen a single day of gains this year.

The price of lithium carbonate depends on demand and supply, as well as the price sensitivity of car companies, Wang said.

In the past, new energy vehicle (NEV) sales have soared, and car companies have lost a lot of money to complete their performance, he said, adding that for many automakers, they may cut production if raw material prices do not meet expectations this year.

In addition, the mass production of sodium-ion batteries has already caused an impact on the lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide industries, Wang said.

On February 23, battery maker Hina Battery unveiled three sodium-ion battery cell products and announced a partnership with Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp (JAC), which made one of its models the first to carry sodium-ion batteries.

Farasis Energy's sodium-ion batteries will also enter mass production this year and will be used in the short term for budget models with a range of up to 300 kilometers and in the medium term for models with a range of up to 500 kilometers, Wang said.

Farasis Energy installed 0.19 GWh of power batteries in China in February, ranking No. 9 with a 0.88 percent share, according to data released last month by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).

Lithium carbonate prices likely to fall below RMB 100,000, says chairman of battery maker Farasis Energy-CnEVPost

($1 = RMB 6.8844)

Analysts explain how falling lithium carbonate prices affect EV costs

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BrewDog Electric Vehicle Oasis

Nestled under the giant Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, the BrewDog craft brewery is an oasis for electric vehicles. BrewDog aims to be a good corporate citizen with its Make Earth Great Again campaign. Solar panels have already been installed on the Brisbane brewery and will soon be installed on BrewDog’s global facilities in the US […]