Beijing Electric Vehicle (BJEV), a subsidiary of the BAIC Group, is a giant in China (the largest electric car manufacturer, in fact). To give you an idea, last year sold 102,341 cars, while Tesla did the same with 14,883 vehicles.
Now that China seeks to push manufacturers to innovate instead of depending on fiscal policies, BJEV wants to give a boost to batteries for electric cars and has launched a battery exchange service, allowing them to be changed as often as the customer wants.
Change the battery in 2 minutes and 46 seconds
As reported by Bloomberg, the Chinese company will sell a version of its compact EV300 for $ 12,000 with a monthly flat rate of about 56 dollars that allows you to change the battery as often as you want . Thus, the Asian manufacturer wants to end the so-called anxiety for autonomy and position itself in a highly competitive sphere .
BJEV plans to install 100 battery exchange stations in Beijing this year, and says the process lasts 2 minutes and 46 seconds. The new program also allows the option to sell the vehicle at half the original price within three years.
Rival companies like NIO already offer similar services. The owners of NIO ES8 can change the batteries in special service stations in three minutes or use the services of ‘Power Mobile’ vehicles, which travel to where customers are to recharge their cars.
NIO plans to build more than 1,100 energy exchange stations in China by 2020 and have more than 1,200 vehicles of this on-demand service.
These programs respond to the attention of the Chinese government to the manufacturers: they want them to innovate and not depend so much on fiscal policies. Therefore it is possible that it is required that vehicles can travel at least 200 km with a single load to receive incentives, which are going to be reduced by more than a third compared to 2018 levels, according to Bloomberg sources.