NIO Has a Plan to End the Anxiety Over Charging Electric Vehicles

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Electric-vehicle sales are growing, which means so are questions about charging and range. Currently, it takes longer to charge an electric car than to fill up a traditional vehicle.

Chinese EV maker

NIO

(ticker: NIO) has a plan to change that.

NIO is in talks to license its battery swapping technology to other auto makers in Europe, according to the Financial Times. That means an European electric car could have a NIO battery pack powering the vehicle.

NIO didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

EV maker as automotive technology and parts supplier is a relatively new idea. NIO has a history of thinking outside the box though. For starters, it’s the only major EV maker to commercialize battery swapping.

NIO offers its drivers a couple of ways to recharge. A driver can plug the car in, much like any other EV. Drivers can also speed up the process by driving into a swap station where the battery pack will be unscrewed and replaced with a fully charged one.

Battery swapping is one way to address concerns about lengthy recharging stops on road trips. Charge time, though, is improving with new charging technology. A

Tesla

(TSLA) at a Tesla supercharging station can get about 150 miles of range in under 20 minutes.

Swapping is also a way to address concerns over…