Tesla denies deployment of battery swapping business in China

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Tesla (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd. has added “the sale of new energy vehicle (NEV)-related battery swapping facilities” into its line of businesses, according to the corporate data platform Tianyancha, indicating that the EV maker is eligible to launch swappable batteries for its vehicles or sell NEV battery swapping facilities to the third parties.

After being reached for comment, Tesla said it would not run the battery swapping business.

Aside from the sale of battery swapping facilities, Tesla Shanghai also embraces such new business items as the repair and maintenance of motor vehicles, the operation of EV charging infrastructures, centralized fast charging stations, as well as the sale of distribution switches, batteries and photovoltaic devices.

Tesla's toe-in-the-water exercise for battery swapping model can date back to 2013 when Elon Musk showed off a battery swapping technology, which can remove and replace the drained battery pack of a Model S with a fully charged one within only 90 seconds. However, the plan isn’t quite working out due to car owners’ lukewarm reception to battery swapping. Musk also believes that Tesla’s vastly improved Supercharger network could contribute to consumer disinterest in battery swapping.

NIO's second-generation battery-swapping stations; photo credit: NIO

In China's NEV market, NIO is no doubt at the forefront of battery swapping deployment. The startup unveiled its second-generation battery swapping station at the NIO Day in early Jan. and expects to deploy it in April 2021. The station can accommodate 13 battery packs, and is capable of providing up to 312 battery swaps per day—three times more than the previous generation. Thanks to communications technologies, the station supports automatic parking for vehicles, enabling a user to complete a battery swap sitting in his car.