BEIJING - Take a road trip in an electric car, and you know the juicing up routine. You pull off the highway, park at a charging station, plug in the car … and wait. If you're lucky, it's about half an hour. Sometimes, it's longer.
In China, one company can get you back on the road in minutes. I had the opportunity to see how, with Jason Wu, an executive at NIO Power, an EV maker.
A few weeks ago, I sat in a roomy SUV, while Wu, in the driver's seat, spoke to the vehicle. "Hi Nomi."
"I'm here," the car responds in a cute, child-like voice. Wu asks the car to initiate a battery swap, and the car takes over.
We drive into a small structure that looks like a one car garage without front and back walls. The car instructs Wu to take his foot off the brake, remove his hands from the steering wheel and to not open the doors.
"If you feel nervous, I'm here," it says. Then, it automatically backs into the car port.
The company recognizes that long charging times are keeping people from buying EVs
"This is fully-automated battery swapping," Wu says.
No more waiting to charge up. The car is about to get a fresh battery.
NIO has recognized that long charging times are one of the main reasons keeping people from buying EVs – not only in China, but all over the world.
The company has installed nearly 4,000 battery swap stations like this around the world, most in China.
NIO EVs are popular in China, but competition is fierce. The company has roughly 4% market share in vehicles that are primarily electric. Its battery swapping is still something of a novelty.
But it's an attractive solution in a country where many drivers live in apartments that don't always have charging ports.
"On February 6, 2026, our total battery swapping network had provided 100 million swaps," said Wu. That's since the first swap station opened in Beijing eight years ago. "This fully demonstrates that battery swapping, as a power replenishment method, has already become very mainstream."
China's highways have 1,000 of these NIO swapping stations
NIO says it's saved drivers more than 83 million hours. Other companies are trying it, including CATL, the world's biggest battery maker. In the U.S., some see it as a useful potential solution for electric trucks, which have long charging times.
Wu extolls battery swapping as convenient, fast and safe. And he says it's good for the health of the batteries. There's also no need to get out and fuss with cables or gas pumps. Nio owners have the option of buying or renting the battery in their car, and they can charge the normal way, too.
For road trippers, NIO has put over 1,000 swapping stations along China's highways.
Back at the battery changing station, the car stops in the port. It lifts up a tiny bit, and jostles around, followed by a muffled, methodic clanking sound and then, silence. The gray metal floor under the vehicle opens, and a machine rises to the undercarriage.
The car's entire battery pack, which weighs about 1,100 pounds, or about as much as a grand piano, is unbolted and whisked away, underground. It goes into a closed room on the side of the swapping station where it is plugged in to charge for a future user.
Under the car, there are a few clicks and clanks as a fresh battery is lifted into place and bolted securely to the vehicle. The system runs some diagnostic checks. And that's it.
"OK, you can see. Green light," Wu says. "The battery swap is done."
A screen on the swapping station shows how long the whole process took: Three minutes and eight seconds … or about the same time it might take to fuel up at a gas station.
–Jasmine Ling contributed to this story.
Copyright 2026 NPR
