Nio’s first factory outside China is to be established in Hungary. The car manufacturer signed an agreement to this effect with the Hungarian authorities on Friday.
The 10,000 square meter factory will produce battery replacement stations for Nio’s battery replacement network. It will also function as a research and development center for the company’s energy services and products in Europe. The activities in Hungary will start in September, according to Nio’s press release.
Towards the new year, Nio will establish itself in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. This means that they need to establish battery exchange stations in these countries.
Nio also has a collaboration with Shell to jointly establish battery exchange stations. First in China, and then in Europe during the year. The collaboration also ensures Nio’s customers access to Shell’s charging network.
The car manufacturer’s battery exchange concept is, in short, that customers who rent a battery can drive by an automatic battery exchange station and change to a fully charged battery in a few minutes. Thus, “charging” is completed in a very short time.
The first station opened in January
The first station in Norway opened in January. So far, it has been with this one. When Nio launched its model ES8 in Norway in autumn 2021, we were told that they would complete 20 such stations by the end of 2022.
If everything is to go according to plan, Nio must therefore open a further 19 battery exchange stations by the New Year.
Nio’s Norwegian press contact Asbjørn Mitusch tells TU that this is still the goal, and that the new factory in Hungary is part of the picture.
– We have ambitions to have 20 stations during the year. Virtually all the plots are in place, and we are in dialogue with the municipalities about the permits needed.
When asked if this is realistic to achieve, Mitusch replies that it is important to have lofty goals, and that it helps that they have clarified the plots. Nevertheless, there are individual differences in the processing times in the various municipalities, he explains.
