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NIO’s electric car battery swapping station looks to pick up where Tesla left off
NIO continues to push forward on battery swapping technology that’s aimed at getting its electric cars fueled up in less time than it takes to pump gasoline into a standard internal combustion engine vehicle. NIO owners can use the company’s compact battery swapping stations located in parking lots and other locations for a delay-free power supply for their vehicles. Drivers enter a swap station and wait while an autonomous robot removes a vehicle’s drained battery and replaces it with a completely charged one. With such an option available for quick access to EV power, NIO clearly intends to embrace customer convenience as part of its plan to win over its target customer base.
According to NIO’s IPO last year, this battery exchange service – called “Power Swap” – has been rolled out in nine cities around China, including Beijing and Shanghai. Plans call for 40 to 80 swap stations in place by the end of December. The company announced the completion of its battery swap network along the Chinese G2 Expressway (from Beijing to Shanghai) in early January this year.
NIO is offering a subscription model that’s priced at $200 per month wherein customers can utilize company-provided batteries rather than owning the actual battery that’s attached to their vehicle. If a customer doesn’t own the battery, swapping it out is a mere formality rather than a question of whether their replacement battery is the same quality as the one given up after purchase.
Despite its advantages, NIO’s battery swap plan has given investors pause, and for good reason. This style of recharging concept has gained some closet skeletons in the recent past, particularly via Better Place, the Israeli-based electric car company that gained a pie-in-the-sky reputation trying to become what Tesla ultimately became but went bankrupt instead. Better Place was known for its swap stations, thus wrapping the entire autonomous recharging solution in with Better Place’s downfall, fair or not. The current environment for EVs might change investors’ tune in the near future, though, especially given NIO’s native country’s push for companies just like theirs to exist.
NIO and other electric companies have a unique position with the Chinese government that may help them succeed where others have struggled or failed. Namely, government-driven subsidies and charging infrastructure investments have been offered to China’s customers to encourage the speedy production and expansion of electric car presence. This direct support could be key to NIO’s ability to scale up and profit from its battery swapping business. That, and Tesla’s incredible impact on the demand for electric vehicles and proven ability to implement battery charging networks to ease range anxiety deserves a significant effort.
Tesla has given its own attempt at battery swapping a shot after first demonstrating the capability shortly after Better Place closed up shop. A battery swapping station opened up near the Harris Ranch Supercharger station in Coalinga, CA with appointments available beginning in 2014 as a pilot program. The station appeared to be closed as of 2016, however, and Tesla has only shown an interest in offering the service again via a 2017 patent application for a battery swapping technology after investing its primary resources into developing its Supercharger network. Tesla’s application received a Notice of Allowance for this application from the US Patent and Trademark Office on February 6, 2019, meaning the company has continued to pursue the technology rights and the full patent should issue soon.
NIO opened its doors in 2014 and currently offers two all-electric production vehicles: the ES6 and ES8, both SUVs. Dubbed the “Tesla of China”, the startup successfully delivered 10,000 made-to-order vehicles last year and has made overtaking Tesla in China one of its major goals. Significant investments have been made into branding NIO as a lifestyle company, including exclusive owner clubs and social network opportunities along with customer convenience offerings like the battery swap stations, mobile power vans, and app-based services similar to those offered by Tesla. It remains to be seen whether NIO can successfully revive the battery swap concept, but considering the brave new world of EVs that did not exist a mere few years ago, their hopes certainly don’t seem to be too far fetched.
Watch the below video to see NIO’s battery swapping tech in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmTePwW5HOQ&feature=youtu.be
News
Tesla utilizes its ‘Rave Cave’ for new awesome safety feature
Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.
Tesla is utilizing its ‘Rave Cave’ for an awesome new safety feature that will arrive with the upcoming Spring Update for 2026.
Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.
Tesla added a Sync Lights feature that will strobe the accent strips with the beat of the music.
It is one of the most unique and one of the coolest non-functional features of a Tesla, as it does not improve the driving of the vehicle, but makes it a cool and personal addition to the interior.
However, Tesla is going to take it one step further, as the Rave Cave lights will now be used for blind spot recognition. This feature will be added as the Spring 2026 Update starts to roll out.
A lot of CRAZY new features coming with Tesla’s 2026 Spring Update, including a new FSD app!
– Self-Driving App (AI4 hardware): New app in App Launcher > Self-Driving for one-tap FSD subscriptions, activation guides, and ongoing stats.
– “Hey Grok”: Voice-activated Grok with… https://t.co/ljeYPlq9Qt— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 13, 2026
Tesla writes:
“Accent lights now turn red when an object is in your blind spot and your turn signal is engaged, or when an approaching object is detected while parked.”
This neat new safety feature will now increase the likelihood of a driver, who is operating their Tesla manually, of seeing the blind spot warnings that are currently available on the A pillar and on the center touchscreen.
These new alerts will now warn drivers of cross traffic as they back out of a parking space with little to no visibility of what is coming. It is a great new addition that will only increase the safety of the vehicles, while also utilizing something that is already installed in these specific Model 3 and Model Y units.
The Model 3 and Model Y were the central focus of the Spring 2026 Update, especially considering the fact that the Model S and Model X are basically gone, with only a few hundred units left. Additionally, Tesla included new Immersive Sound and Car Visualization for the Model 3 and Model Y specifically in this new update.
News
Tesla parked 50+ Cybercabs outside its Texas Factory with some crash tested
Dozens of Tesla Cybercabs have been spotted at Giga Texas crash testing facility ahead of launch.
Drone footage captured by longtime Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer shows over 50 units of Tesla Cybercab at the Austin factory campus, including several units clustered by Tesla’s on-site crash testing facility.
The outbound lot at Gigafactory Texas sits just outside the factory exit and serves as the primary staging area where finished vehicles are held before being loaded onto transport carriers or dispatched for validation testing. On any given day, the lot holds a mix of Model Y and Cybertruck units alongside the growing Tesla Cybercab fleet, as can be seen in the drone footage captured by Joe Tegtmeyer.
Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas on April 13, 2026 [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)
Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)
Tesla Cybercab crash test units spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)
Tesla announced its Spring 2026 software update, and it’s the most feature-dense seasonal release the company has put out. The update covers twelve named changes spanning FSD, voice AI, safety lighting, dashcam storage, and pet display customization, among other things.
The centerpiece for owners with AI4 hardware is a redesigned Self-Driving app. The new interface lets owners subscribe to Full Self-Driving with a single tap and view ongoing FSD usage stats directly in the vehicle.
Grok gets its biggest in-car upgrade yet. The update adds a “Hey Grok” hands-free wake word along with location-based reminders, so a driver can now say “remind me to pick up groceries when I get home” without touching the screen. Grok first arrived in vehicles in July 2025, but each update has pushed it closer to genuine daily utility. Musk framed the broader vision clearly at Davos in January, saying Tesla is “really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.”
On safety, the update introduces enhanced blind spot warning lights that integrate directly with the cabin’s ambient lighting, building on the blind spot door warning that arrived in update 2026.8.
Dog Mode has been renamed Pet Mode and now lets owners choose a dog, cat, or hedgehog icon and add their pet’s name to the display.
Dashcam retention now extends up to 24 hours, up from the previous one-hour rolling loop, with a permanent save option for any clip. Weather maps now show rain and snow with better color differentiation and include the past hour of precipitation data along the route.
Tesla has now established a clear rhythm of two major OTA pushes per year. As with last year’s Spring update, that cycle started taking shape in 2025 with adaptive headlights and trunk customization. The 2025 Holiday Update then added Grok to the vehicle for the first time. This Spring follows that structure: the Holiday update introduces new architecture, and the Spring update broadens it across the fleet.
Two notable features still did not make it. IFTTT automations, which launched in China earlier this year, were held back from this North American release for unknown reasons, and Apple CarPlay remains absent, reportedly still delayed by iOS 26 and Apple Maps compatibility issues.
Below is the full list of feature updates released by Tesla.
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 13, 2026
Tesla utilizes its ‘Rave Cave’ for new awesome safety feature
Tesla parked 50+ Cybercabs outside its Texas Factory with some crash tested
