This New Electric Car Has No Battery and Just Killed Tesla’s Future

if you haven't heard of Neo I'll tell you now keep your eyes out for this company this is a Chinese eveve startup that's often referred to as China's Tesla but actually it's much more than that it offers something no American EV maker currently offers and that's a quick stop battery swap so you don't have to recharge your EV recently Neo announced that it completed its 30 millionth battery swap today I'll tell you how fast Neo achieved this Milestone what this means and why Tesla should be concerned move over Tesla because this might be the one one way I may possibly consider buying an EV by the way a lot of time in research was done to put together this video and I really want to know what you think so while you're watching this please comment below and share your thoughts right now Neo is the largest battery swapping company in the world this October Neo live streamed a huge milestone in the EV world it's 30 millionth battery swap according to Neo it currently swaps over 60,000 batteries every single day day it's not only faster than recharging an EV but it can even be faster than pumping gas into a gas powerered car this Milestone is huge because it proves there's a viable market for consumers who prefer battery swapping battery swapping makes sense especially when it comes to long road trips it also makes sense to ride share vehicles that want to get back on the road quickly and even commercial EVs and electric delivery trucks there are also Financial benefits too since battery swapping saves consumers money up front here's how it works when your EV needs more juice you take your EV to a station to exchange your depleted battery for a fully charged one and it literally takes just a few minutes in cars that were designed for that the concept originally got it start in Asia and now the trend is taken off and in land in Europe and by Europe I mean specifically Norway if you're wondering why Norway well that's cuz Norway has the highest number of EVS per capita in the world I'm talking about a 65% market share so it's no coincidence that Norway is the first European country to integrate Neo's battery swapping technology now to be clear battery swapping isn't intended as the only solution for EVS instead it's a complement to the current charging infrastructure right now when you think of EV charging most consumers think of hooking up your EV to a charging station best case scenario you're looking at a weight anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes if you're the only one in line and that's if your Eevee is hooked to a DC fast charger but with battery swapping that is significantly decreased anywhere between 3 to 5 minutes this is revolutionary because it makes it more accessible and convenient for drivers to quickly get their EVS to a full charge and if the driver doesn't even have to lift the finger now in order to switch your E's battery to a Neo station your EV needs to be prepared and have a special design called easy swap now I'm not saying that Neo invented battery swapping it didn't but it's the leader in this segment today here's the thing 30 million battery swaps is a huge milestone for sure but what's even more impressive is how quickly Neo reached that Milestone flash back to May 2018 that was when Neo completed its first ever battery swap station in in shenzen China that was 5 years ago back then battery swap Service as a concept was largely unknown and EV owners were skeptical but that changed very quickly fast forward two years to 2020 and he already reached his 1 millionth Milestone then two years later in 20122 it reached its 9 millionth Milestone one month later it reached 10 million fast forward to April 2023 Neo reached its 20 millionth battery swap then 6 months later 30 million with Neo's thirdd generation swap stations customer are looking at a battery swap time of around 3 minutes tops as of this past October Neo had almost 2,000 battery swap stations in China 574 of these were located along highways Neo's been working to add another thousand battery swap stations by the end of this year here's the interesting thing initially Neo offered free battery swaps to car owners the purpose was to incentivize customers to try out battery swapping and ultimately prefer that over recharging but in June of this year Neo lowered the price of its entire model range by by 4,100 and the free battery swap service soon became a paid option Neo's battery swapping stations are known as Power Swap stations and they're strategically located throughout China these stations are equipped with Advanced robotics technology on top of this Neo also offers a subscription based service it's called the battery as a service or boss program with this program customers can purchase an EV without the battery customers like this because it means The Upfront cost of the electric vehicle is a lot lower instead of purchasing a battery customers in this program pay monthly fee for the battery which can be swapped at any Neo Power Swap station if you think about it the business model is rather Innovative and it's effectively attracted many customers Neo was also committed to sustainability and customer satisfaction by that I mean the company focuses on using renewable energy sources to power its battery swapping stations this reduces overall carbon footprint Neo also provides 247 customer support for any of its customers battery swapping needs combined these commitments have played a major role in the automaker success despite the success Neo has its share of problems Neo employs around 11,000 people in research and development thing is the company only sold 8,000 cars per month from April through June of this year 2023 and that's sure things stop adding up Neo has invested far more than it is bringing back in in fact the company has invested so heavily in robots that one of its factories employs only 30 technicians and these 30 workers can make 300,000 electric car motors a year for each seat in its cars Neo offers $350 augmented reality glasses the company has even introduced a cell phone that interacts with the car self-driving system this is something that even Apple has only dreamed of doing so you can see it's been working hard to be cutting edge technology but here's the thing none of these technological options Bells whistles have proven to be profitable actually it's far from it believe it or not Neil lost 835 million bucks in the second quarter of 2023 we're talking an average loss of $35,000 for each car that is sold which is huge when you consider Neo's average transaction price is over $42,000 talk about leading money the first and obvious question is how has Neo managed to remain alive after such killer losses well just like many other companies in China's ever growing Eevee industry Neo is strong government backing I'm talking some serious dope for example when Neo almost completely ran out of money in 2020 a local government immediately invested a whopping $1 billion to a 24% stake in a company on top of that a state controlled bank then led a group of lenders to invest yet another 1.6 billion in the company and that helped keep the company afloat but fair forward 3 and a/2 years and today Neo is starting to sink again the real question comes down to this will Neo be able to sell enough cars to justify its huge investment spendings in research and development only time will tell on that one but for now the secret to EO so-called success is government backing and basically Limitless cast at their disposal actually this is nothing new in China other Chinese eakers are chugging along despite huge losses and these companies are only just growing another Chinese EV startup X Pang for example also acknowledged government assistance there is however another leading Chinese Eevee maker that's byd that one is an exception compared to Chinese competitors cuz it's actually profitable in fact it help profits to $1.5 billion in the first half of this year this is the company that's backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway as already mentioned Neo is at the top of the battery swapping Market but it's not the only player in the game it faces competition from other players like Tesla for example the thing is Tesla's approach has been different than Neil's jump back 10 years not many Americans remember but back in 2013 Tesla demonstrated a battery swap in its Model S in the demonstration the model S battery was swapped out the same time it took the fuel up an AI San at that time it seemed like a big innovation that just hit the scene but actually over time the idea faded away a year later Elon mus said the Tesla was a little late on battery swapping cuz it got preoccupied with other issues he then added that the company would hopefully get that enabled the next few months between LA and San Francisco but then more months passed and any progress all but stopped Tesla did apparently construct One battery swapping facility in Harris Ranch California but ultimately it wasn't a top priority for Tesla interestingly enough years later a Tesla spokesman clarified Tesla's belief that EV charging is the best way to power its vehicles and that battery swapping is riddled with problems and is not suitable for widescale use Tesla is far from being the only critic battery swapping other critics have explained that the design of each automaker batteries is deeply inclined with unique vehicle architectures this means there's no battery swapping system that could be designed as one size fits all for easy removal and installation evidently it's far more complex than that even if this were possible you have to keep in mind that each station would need to Store and Service thousands of battery at any one time when you consider that you can see how it sounds like an impractical nightmare a large concern for many potential Tesla owners is how soon and how often they'll need to replace their EV battery every battery is different some Decay faster than others and some can cost you a lot more to replace once they use their capabilities Believe It or Not EV battery replacement can cost you any anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 bucks so you can see it's expensive and the range is rather large so if you're wondering what impacts EV degradation that too is dependent on various factors for example how the EV was charged what type of environment was driven in and so forth so how many years do Tesla batteries last well you're not the first one to ask that question and you won't be the last back in 2021 Tesla's impact report said that the company's battery pcks are designed to Outlast the vehicle whatever that means Tesla estimates that a vehicle gets scrapped after approximately 200,000 Mi of Utes in the US and roughly 150,000 mi in Europe so unless you plan on driving your Tesla over 200,000 mi in theory supposedly you need not worry but here's the interesting thing Tesla's batters are covered under warranty of course the warranty depends on the model but in general Tesla batteries are covered for 8 years or between 100,000 to 150,000 Mi whichever comes first it does make me wonder though if Tesla really wanted to stand by its claim that it's battery will Outlast the car then why don't they offer the warranty for 200,000 m then anyway battery Improvement is something all EV makers care about because the battery is the heaviest part of an EV and also the costliest part back in 2020 Tesla introduced a new kind of battery known as the 4680 battery pack this pack is able to start whopping five times the energy of the previous generations maybe that's due to higher density design and improved chemistry according to Elon Musk 4680 batteries are also a lot cheaper to produce currently the 4680 battery pack is produced in Fremont California and it's available in some model y cars built in Texas with more to come in the future but now you tell me what's your opinion on battery swapping is this also making you consider buying an EV do you think other automakers should hop on the battery swap service train please share by commenting below if you like this video please like share and subscribe thanks for your support

Channel: Scotty Kilmer

Views: 867,649

Keywords: auto, auto repair, car, car diy, car repair, cars, diy, how to, mechanic, repair, scotty kilmer, car review, buying a car, car advice, car buying, should I buy an electric car, electric car, electric cars, buying an electric car, electric car review, electric car repair, electric car reliability, buying a used electric car, buying a new electric car, the truth about electric cars, best electric car, nio, nio electric car, best electric car to buy, battery, electric car battery

Id: xSmgBybqPM4

Length: 10min 51sec (651 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 02 2023