Nio readies 'first' mass-produced 150 kWh semi-solid state EV battery pack

Chinese automaker Nio recently announced the commercial roll-out of what can be called as one of the earliest solid state battery pack designed for EVs at the global level. The 150 kWh battery packs came out of the production line at the company's facility in Nanjing, in the Chinese province of Jiangsu early this month. 

According to news reports, the semi-solid battery pack offers an energy density of 260 Wh/kg, enough to support a driving range of up to 1,055 km. These batteries will be supplied to Nio's battery swapping network in the country starting later this month. 

The first reveal of this 150 kWh semi-solid battery pack happened way back in 2021 at the Nio Day 2020 event, featured in a Nio ET7 electric sedan. The automaker had already filed for using 150 kWh battery packs in its electric cars last year, with a claimed range of about 1,000 kms. 

It is to be noted that these semi-solid battery cells were developed by a local startup Beijing WeLion New Energy Technology, which began supplying 360 Wh/kg lithium-ion cells to Nio in mid last year. 

Nio is expected to make live these ultra-long range battery packs in its battery swap network by the second quarter of this year. The company currently has about 2,400 battery swapping stations for its electric car users across the entire China. 

The battery pack, arguably the largest mass-produced battery pack for passenger electric cars so far, has been acknowledged by Nio's CEO William Li as "more symbolic than practical", as the packs are limited in terms of volumes and are costly for quick customer adoption. 

"Far more of our customers choose 75-kWh packs than 100-kWh packs. Why? Because we now have a lot more charging piles and battery swap stations than ever before, they don't see the need to have to buy a model with a 100-kWh pack," Li reportedly said, according to CnEVPost's news report. 

The 150 kWh battery pack makes sense only for those users who are in hurry or need to go to far off, remote locations. The CEO instead suggested a more robust EV charging infrastructure, which can enable users to charge whenever possible, thereby eliminating the need for large, expensive battery packs, the report added.