said a month ago that its 150-kWh ultra-long-range battery pack will come online in the second quarter, and is the largest capacity battery pack mass-produced in China's passenger car segment.

(Image credit: Weibo blogger @德卤爱开车)

Nio (NYSE: NIO) has begun mass production of its 150-kWh battery pack, a semi-solid state battery that is expected to be in service this quarter.

Nio held a ceremony in Nanjing, Jiangsu province on April 3 to celebrate its first mass-produced 150-kWh battery pack coming off the production line, according to images shared by multiple automotive bloggers on Weibo last night.

Nio unveiled the 150-kWh semi-solid-state battery when it launched the ET7 sedan on January 9, 2021 at the Nio Day 2020 event.

The semi-solid battery cells come from local startup Beijing WeLion New Energy Technology, which started delivering 360 Wh/kg Li-ion battery cells to Nio on June 30, 2023.

The batteries currently circulating in Nio's battery swap network include 70/75-kWh standard-range packs and 100-kWh long-range packs.

Nio has already filed for the use of the 150-kWh pack in its models last year, capable of providing a range of up to 1,000 kilometers on a single charge in several models.

On December 17, 2023, Nio founder, chairman, and CEO William Li drove an ET7 sedan with a 150-kWh battery pack to complete a real-life range challenge for the pack.

After 1,044 kilometers of driving, that ET7 had a remaining charge of 3 percent and a remaining CLTC range of 36 kilometers, according to Nio's announcement at the time.

The electric vehicle (EV) maker's models support battery swap, which allows owners to replace a dead battery with a fully charged one in a matter of minutes at battery swap stations, making it possible to put new battery technologies into use quickly.

The 150-kWh ultra-long-range battery pack will be put into service in the second quarter, Nio said on March 5 in its fourth-quarter 2023 earnings highlights posted to its Chinese-language social media accounts.

This is the largest capacity battery pack mass-produced in the domestic passenger car segment, with Nio models equipped with the pack boasting a range of up to 1,055 kilometers, it said.

As it is a new technology, the 150-kWh battery pack is currently costly, and Nio co-founder and president Qin Lihong mentioned in February 2023 that the pack costs about the same as an ET5.

The ET5 is Nio's least expensive model at the moment, with a starting price of RMB 298,000 ($41,400) including the battery.

($1 = RMB 7.2338)

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