While You Stop For A 30-Minute Charge, Nio Just Swapped 1 Million EV Batteries In A Week

admin — Sat, 09 May 2026 06:04:17 +0000

Nio’s battery swapping tech is hotter than ever.
The automaker’s customers managed to swap more than 1 million batteries in just a week.
Its highest day of swaps during this last sprint was 170,585 batteries—and that wasn’t even its all-time record.

EVs might be getting uber-fast at charging, but there’s still one refueling method in China that makes plugging in feel as archaic as feeding your horse some oats. We’re talking about Nio’s battery swapping tech. Pull in, wait about three minutes, and leave with a fully-charged pack. It’s kind of like going to a car wash, but it gives your car a fresh battery instead of making it squeaky clean.

How popular is it getting, you ask? Well, Nio’s recent statistics point out that during China’s recent May Day travel rush, it completed over 1 million battery swaps in a single week.

Photo by: Nio

Nio was able to perform 1,031,469 separate battery-swapping sessions between April 30 and May 6—or about 147,350 swaps per day. That’s an average of 270 swaps across its 3,839 battery swapping stations, or right around 40 per-site, per-day.

The actual highest day of use was May 1 where Nio swapped out 170,585 batteries. This was a huge number of swaps, but still didn’t quite beat the automaker’s record of 177,627 in a single day (which Nio says was set on February 22nd during the height of China’s Spring Festival travel rush).

Even more impressive was the amount of power delivered via the stations. From May 1 until May 5, Nio says that it provided 15.4 gigawatt-hours of energy, which it claims was around 16.3% of all energy delivered to EVs in China over the same period of time.

Battery swapping has several notable advantages over charging. One is speed. While even the quickest charging stop in the U.S. takes around 20 minutes, and most EVs require more like 30-40, an automated battery-pack swap can take just a few minutes. The batteries are charged slowly on site, reducing the location’s power needs. And the framework enables different battery packs for different use cases. For example, when they embark on a road trip, Nio owners can pay extra for a bigger pack with more range.

As cool as it is, battery swapping does come with some unique challenges. Automakers have to invest in a bunch of spare batteries to store at the site. And interoperability is an issue; Nio’s stations only work with its Nio and Onvo brands. For this to take off industry-wide and become the new default form of EV charging, you’d need to have battery packs that were swappable between manufacturers. (Nio is working with Chinese battery giant CATL on battery-swapping standards.)

In the U.S., the tech has been in its infancy for years. A California-based startup, Ample, had been piloting battery-swapping for ride-hailing drivers and had inked some preliminary deals with automakers, but it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last year.

Nio, meanwhile, is pushing ahead. And its swapping stations have proved popular. In fact, Nio has performed more than 100 million battery swaps since 2018.The automaker’s fifth-generation battery swapping facilities will soon begin deployment across China, allowing the stations to support larger wheelbases and help to future proof the tech.

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Stop Idling: How Turning Off Engine Saves Fuel

admin — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 23:30:25 +0000

It was 22 degrees where I live last night, making it very tempting to give my car a few extra minutes to warm up this morning before driving my kids to school. It’s also easy to find someone sitting in their car with the engine running in almost any major parking lot, but that’s not the activity of a driver who wants to save fuel costs. Idling, which is when you let your engine run when you’re not driving the vehicle, uses more fuel than you probably think, and it generates a load of nasty emissions in the process.

How Much Fuel Does Idling Actually Use?

The U.S. Department of Energy states that idling can use one-quarter to one-half gallon of fuel per hour, depending on the vehicle and the use of accessories (such as air conditioning). With climate controls turned off, idling could cost you up to $0.03 per minute. That might not seem like a lot at first, but consider how many times you’ve started your car 20-30 minutes before leaving the house in the morning or how long you’ve waited in the school pickup line with the engine running. The costs add up more quickly than you think.

Idling Is a Big Problem in the U.S.

While we’re mainly here to talk about fuel consumption, the cumulative effects of idling personal vehicles are staggering. The more than 250 million cars, trucks, minivans, and SUVs on American roads burn 3 billion gallons of fuel and generate 30 million tons of CO2 each year, just by idling. We admit that there are situations when it’s necessary to leave your car running, but reducing idle time would have the same fuel-saving and emission-reduction effects as taking millions of vehicles off the road.

You Could Get a Ticket

Depending on where you live, idling may be illegal. Several states and cities have banned idling, including New Jersey, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Maryland, and others. New York City and parts of California also have regulations that prohibit idling in many situations.

Learn more about fuel economy and gas prices.

Tips to Reduce Idling

We aren’t telling you never to let your car idle, but there are several things you can do to reduce the time your car sits with the engine running.

Reduce Idling Infographic

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When to Turn Off Your Engine

Drive-Through Lines

Long waits at restaurants, banks, or pharmacies—turn off your engine or park and go inside.

Waiting for Passengers

Picking up kids or waiting for others? Turn off the engine in mild weather.

Warming the Interior

Driving warms the cabin faster than idling. Drive gently after 30 seconds of startup.

Modern Engine Health

Today’s starters and batteries handle frequent restarts. Turning off won’t damage your engine.

Necessary Idling Situations

Traffic: Keep the engine running for safety. You can’t turn it off while in a traffic flow.

Defrosting: Winter window frosting may require a brief idle to clear visibility safely.

Emissions Testing: Some inspection stations require idling to maintain engine operating temperature during testing.

Technology Solutions

Hybrid-Electric Vehicles

Engine shuts off automatically when stopped and can move on electric power alone.

Stop-Start Technology

“Mild hybrid” or stop-start systems increasingly available automatically stop the engine at red lights and restart on demand.

Protecting Children’s Air Quality

Vehicle emissions are more concentrated near the ground where children breathe. Reducing idling at schools and pickup zones protects developing lungs and helps prevent asthma and respiratory illness.

Be the Example

Turn off your engine at drive-throughs and while waiting. Show others the simple habit.

Talk to Schools

Encourage anti-idling policies and signs at school bus areas and parent pickup zones.

Inform Businesses

Suggest drive-through managers post reminders about idling’s environmental impact.

Know Local Laws

Check if your area restricts idling. Some regions fine drivers for unnecessary engine running.