When the battery is leased, NIO’s ET5 electric sedan costs around $38,000, and the future 150 kWh battery pack with solid-state electrolyte that NIO developed with WeLion is nearly as pricey as the entire car. That is why NIO intends to lease the 620-mile battery for summer travels rather than selling cars equipped with it.
The 150 kWh solid-state electrolyte battery that NIO will equip its electric sedans with this year costs nearly as much as the entire car, revealed the company’s co-founder at an owners’ meeting. Nonetheless, the battery that NIO co-developed with WeLion after the world’s largest EV battery maker CATL baulked at the notion has a 620-mile range on a charge, and NIO aims to lease it rather than sell it directly, at least in the initial batches. According to the minutes of the meeting:
A 150 kWh battery can be utilised throughout the summer vacation, and it is available for weekly rent. Buyouts will be available later, depending on the scenario. A 150 kWh [battery] costs a lot of money, almost as much as an ET5.
When WeLion completed the trial production back in the summer, it said that the batteries with solid electrolyte didn’t cost that much more to manufacture than its standard ternary lithium cells with liquid electrolyte. NIO was meant to launch the long-range battery variants of its electric cars in Q4, but delayed the release until this year, and we now know why.
It’s unclear what transpired between the “cheap” trial runs and mass production, but considering the battery’s component structure – solid-state electrolyte, silicon composite anode, and high-nickel cathode – it might have been the price of any of those materials skyrocketing. A possible cause is the difficulty of mass producing an unique and expensive technology in small numbers.
The ET5 vehicle, which NIO’s co-founder mentioned as a rough estimate for the final price of the 150 kWh unit, costs around US$38,000 with leased battery. If that’s the case, leasing the long-range pack for owners to use only when they truly need it, such as travelling on summer vacation, would be the most cost-effective alternative.
After all, CATL’s initial reluctance to produce the 150 kWh pack with solid electrolyte for NIO may have been justified. Its executives cited cell costs and resource allocation as factors for passing. Instead of creating costly new chemistries, CATL wants to refine its existing technology and drive down the pricing of mass-produced batteries, claiming that the major difficulty is meeting all of the record EV battery demand.
The physical word for something that is between a solid and a liquid is quasi-solid, falsely-solid, or semisolid.
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