Nio, a Chinese EV manufacturer, recently said that it would be entering mass production for its 150kWh battery (140kWh usable), in April next year. The battery, which is a “semi-solid state” component, is reportedly the largest in any vehicle, as well as providing the longest range of any currently existing EV.
How long, one might ask? William Li, CEO of Nio, had reportedly driven a prototype version of the EV manufacturer’s ET7 for a total distance of 1,044km for 14 hours, before the the 150kWh battery required a recharge.
“The completion of this endurance challenge proves the product power of the 150kWh ultra-long endurance battery pack,” Li said in a Weibo post, which was translated via Google. “More importantly, all models on sale can be flexibly upgraded to 150kWh batteries through the Nio battery swap system.”
For context, an EV, such as the Tesla Model 3 or BYD Dolphin, typically ships out with a battery capacity of 60kWh, on average. At that size, these cars can give their drivers an approximate range of up to 600km/h on a single charge but again, this really is dependent on not just the size of the battery, but also other factors such as the amount of torque they generate and how many horses are running beneath the surface. That is also more or less the same range as a petrol-powered car, meaning that Nio is technically the first vehicle manufacturer to achieve that such a long distance.
As interesting as the news is, though, it is unlikely that we’ll be seeing Nio stepping into Malaysia, let alone with a vehicle equipped with its 150kWh battery. Even if it did, it’s also likely that the component alone would cost a combination of an arm, leg, kidney, or all three body parts, for that matter.
