China’s NIO Invests $273 Mn To Establish Separate Battery Tech Company

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer NIO has established a new entity called NIO Battery Technology (Anhui) Co. Ltd. and it is being headed by William Li as its Chairman, who is also the founder of NIO.

According to reports, the capital is of about $273 million of the new company which will be controlled absolutely by NIO. As the cost of the batteries in EV rise, many players are delving into greater R&D of lithium based battery solutions. Hence, it was revealed in May 2022 that NIO was mulling to invest over 218 million yuan to set up 31 new R&D labs for battery cells and packs in Shanghai’s Jiading District. NIO was also said to be planning a trial production facility for lithium-ion batteries. These labs delve into testing for lithium-ion battery charging and discharging, temperature, sealing, safety, withstand voltage and related areas.

NIO mainly deals with the battery leasing and swapping stations. In 2020, the company had set up a specific asset management company for the battery segment called ‘Wuhan Weineng’ in which CATL owns a quarter of the shares. The financial statement of the company reveals that its expenditure on R&D in the first half of 2022 nears 4 billion Yuan- an increase of about 150 per cent.

Company founder William Li mentioned in a meeting recently that NIO is planning to increase investments in batteries. It also created a 400-member team for the release of 800V battery packs in 2024. Another report has also revealed that NIO is developing lithium ferromanganese phosphate and 4680 batteries. The company may also go for mass production of the same. Many companies like Panasonic, EVE Energy, Tesla, and LG Energy are working on 4680 batteries.

As far as lithium ferromanganese phosphate batteries are concerned they are equal to higher versions of lithium iron phosphate batteries. They cost the same, but have 15-20 per cent higher energy density.

In September, NIO announced its first power swap station shipment from Europe as it delivered its swapping product from Hungary – its first overseas based manufacturing facility – to Germany.