What's new in the world of EV Batteries

What we're reading about in the news:

More than 20 million battery swaps

NIO reported that on April 3, 2023, a NIO ES6 completed the 20 millionth battery swap. According to the Chinese car maker, it took more than four years to reach the first ten million swaps, but only nine months to complete the next ten million. Swapping, rather than plugging in, batteries has become the preferred way for NIO customers to recharge their cars. Source: NIO

NIO Power Swap

Stellantis and BMW Group investing in cylindrical cell design

Car and battery makers are spending tens of billions of dollars in building the capacity to produce enough batteries to meet the growing demand for EVs. The technology decisions they make today, to a large extent locks in what the future holds. Cylindrical cells appear to be gaining in popularity, because of their high energy density and relative safety. So too with Stellantis and BMW Group, who are said to be in talks with Panasonic to build battery manufacturing plants in North America. Panasonic specialises in cylindrical batteries, having churned out billions of them for their main car customer Tesla. Source: WSJ

Toyota targets 1.5 million EV sales by 2026

Toyota Motor Corp's new CEO has announced plans for the Japanese car maker to launch 10 new EVs between now and 2026. In a bid to increase the company's EV plans, the company expects to sell more than 1.5 million EVs annually by 2026. The new line-up is expected to include battery EV pickup trucks (likely part of the successful HiLux franchise) and a small battery EV model aimed at the mainstream market. It's expected most of the new models will be based on the e-TNGA architecture used for the Toyota bZ4X. Source: CarExpert

Toyota bZ4X