The Chinese car company Nio announced November 29 that it had signed a battery swapping agreement with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group that will see the two sides work together on model development, technology and equipment standards.
Battery swapping is a process that allows drivers to replace depleted battery packs in electric vehicles with fully charged battery packs, eliminating the need to wait while the car recharges.
According to Reuters, Geely is the second car manufacturer to sign a battery swapping deal with Nio, who is also working with Changan Automobile.
The companies said that they will both adopt a “co-investment, co-construction, shared, co-operative” model, aiming to create a unified battery swapping operation, as well as battery swappable vehicles that are compatible with each other’s systems.
The Australian copper miner Oz Minerals has been trying to take advantage of battery swapping technology to allow it to switched to cleaner energy for larger vehicles. The company announced in April
it would be testing an electric triple road train at its operations in Southern Australia as part of a project with the electric truck conversion specialist Janus Electric. The truck service, which is powered by renewable batteries, takes advantage of a battery recharging and swap station located at Port Augusta.
“This is a significant milestone for the transport industry,” said Janus Electric CEO Lex Forsyth.
According to The Driven, Oz Minerals CEO Andrew Cole said the company wants to cut its emissions in half by 2027.
