NIO revives Better Place-style battery swap station network

Preparations are currently being completed for the establishment of the first rapid battery switching station in Israel for the electric vehicles of Chinese car manufacturer NIO. The first battery exchange station is in Glilot and subsequently an entire network of such stations is to be set up throughout the country.

If all this sounds familiar, it is no coincidence. Better Place first conceived the idea and set up a network of such stations here 15 years ago before going bankrupt.

The technological principle has not changed since then. An electric vehicle that supports this technology enters a computerized roadside station, where a robotic system disconnects its near empty battery from the bottom of the vehicle and replaces it with a fully charged battery within a few minutes. The empty batteries are charged inside the station and transferred to other vehicles later.

But if in 2010 the stations were a pioneering technology designed to solve the problem of short driving ranges, today it is a mature technology, serving hundreds of thousands of customers in China and Europe and receiving the active support of the Chinese government and giant Chinese companies. If the technology is more widely adopted, it has the potential to change the known rules of the game in Israel’s automotive industry.

No longer an immature idea

There are currently about 3,800 robot battery switching stations in China, about 3,400 of which are operated by NIO. The company adopted this technology in 2018 as part of its business strategy and operates another 250 battery swapping stations around the world, mainly in Europe. According to the company, more than 70 million battery swaps have been carried out using the stations since they were put into operation.

In recent years, other car groups in China have also begun to adopt this technology, including BAIC and Geely, which are gradually expanding the number of electric models that support rapid battery switching. The Chinese government has even subsidized this technology to the tune of more than $5 billion so far.

The most significant development in this field was this year, when China’s CATL, which holds a 38% global market share for electric vehicle batteries, announced the adoption of rapid battery switching technology. The company announced that it will build about 500 stations in China this year and more than 10,000 within a few years. Sources in China claim that the company is even considering acquiring NIO’s station network.

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The giant Chinese company has begun promoting a uniform global standard for quickly connecting and disconnecting batteries for electric vehicles and has even begun producing battery types with different capacities that support its standard. In doing so, it intends to remove one of the main obstacles that have stood in the way of the adoption of this technology in the automotive industry so far, which is the concern of automakers about the lack of compatibility between vehicles and different charging stations.

Formulating a uniform standard could also accelerate the transition to low-cost mass production of such stations in China and reduce their cost from around $140,000-$200,000 per station today (not including the cost of land and connection), to a few tens of thousands of dollars, which will accelerate the pace of station deployment worldwide.

Battery on a leasing model

The potential of the idea of battery swapping stations stems from advantages that have not changed much since the days of Better Place. The main advantage is a significant upgrade in the convenience of use for electric vehicle owners who travel long distances. Instead of looking for a public charging station and hoping that it is available, in good condition and provides a decent charging rate, and then waiting dozens of minutes for the charging to be completed, battery swapping stations allow you to add hundreds of kilometers of driving range in less than five minutes. This is a critical issue for “heavy mileage consumers” and especially for vehicle fleets, transport vehicles, taxis, etc.

The technology can also expand the attractiveness of the electric vehicle to larger groups of customers, who currently do not have the option of installing a private charging station. Although only about 15% of electric vehicle owners in Israel do not have a private charging station at home or work, many others avoid buying an electric vehicle in the first place because they do not have the option of installing such a station.

The battery swap station technology also has the advantage of promoting use by electric trucks, for which the issue of range is critical to generating revenue. Trucks need different battery swap stations due to the size and weight of the batteries, but such stations already exist around the world and may develop the heavy electric vehicle market, which currently has a minimal presence in Israel.

Another advantage, which Better Place already identified at the time, is the possibility of reducing the price of the electric vehicle to the consumer at the time of purchase, assuming of course that it supports quick battery swapping. The manufacturer or importer can separate the price of the battery from the price of the vehicle, which sometimes amounts to more than a third of the price of the entire vehicle. The battery is “leased” to the vehicle owner in exchange for a fixed monthly subscription and a charge for each use of the battery swap station, which also includes the price of electricity.

But the biggest advantage, especially in Israel, is the preservation of long-term value. Currently, the issue of maintaining the value of an electric vehicle in the Israeli used market is a significant market barrier, due to the difficulty of predicting future demand for vehicles that have traveled a large number of kilometers and whose batteries no longer provide optimal range. Therefore, the ability to replace the battery frequently is considered a “vaccine against depreciation.” Needless to say, this is also an advantage for an importer who markets vehicles that support this technology.

Potential competitive advantage

Will this technology take root in Israel this time, after the failure of Better Place? It’s hard to say, but we can certainly look at the anticipated experience of NIO and its Israeli importer Delek Motors, which will begin this year, as an interesting “pilot.”

Until recently, the only vehicles that supported this technology were NIO’s expensive and luxury electric models, whose price range was between NIS 300,000 and NIS 500,000. But from the end of 2025, NIO’s relevant offering in Israel will expand to two additional brands, which appeal to a much wider range of customers. One of them is the ONVO brand, with an estimated price range of NIS 200,000-270,000 and the other is the FireFly premium popular brand, which will include city cars in the estimated price range of NIS 150,000-170,000. Both of these brands support quick battery replacement, although FireFly will have dedicated stations, which are different from regular stations.

There are still a few obstacles in Israel in contrast to China – such as inflated land prices, aggressive regulation and municipal taxes. But when the network is activated and the cars are launched with dedicated “swap programs”, including the option to separate the price of the battery from the price of the vehicle and thus reduce it by tens of thousands of shekels, the battery swap technology may exploit its significant competitive advantage. In the process, it could provide a solution to the problem of value retention, which is currently inhibiting the development of the electric vehicle market in Israel.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 4, 2025.

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