NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO) shares are trading higher on Friday.

The company’s deliveries have surged considerably in recent months, largely due to improvements in its Battery as a Service (BaaS) offering. The president of the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer has now shared figures that underscore this impact.

Since the introduction of the new BaaS policy in March, over 70 percent of users have chosen the battery rental service, according to Nio co-founder and president Qin Lihong, who shared this information today at a press briefing during the Chengdu auto show, reported CnEV Post.

Lihong explained that renting batteries allows owners to effectively transfer the responsibility of maintaining the most valuable component of their EV to NIO, CnEV Post added.

Qin stated that NIO owners who lease batteries pay a monthly fee comparable to the cost of gasoline for a fuel-efficient vehicle.

This arrangement allows them to use their EVs without worrying about the expenses associated with the battery’s end-of-life. He also emphasized that battery longevity is a crucial issue that the entire EV industry should address collectively.

Nio first introduced its BaaS service in August 2020, which reduced the purchase barrier by at least 70,000 yuan ($9,870).

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On March 14 this year, the company made significant adjustments to the BaaS service, simplifying the process for owners to eventually buy out their batteries and reducing the monthly rental fees.

Under NIO’s updated policy, customers who buy a NIO model with a standard range battery pack through the BaaS model can still lower their initial purchase cost by RMB70,000, just as before, the report highlighted.

The new monthly rental fee for the standard battery pack is RMB728, which is RMB252, or 25.71%, lower than the previous fee of RMB980 before the March adjustment.

For customers opting for a NIO model with a long-range battery pack under the BaaS model, the initial purchase cost reduction remains RMB 128,000, unchanged from before.

The report further noted that the new monthly fee for the long-range battery pack is RMB1,128, representing a decrease of RMB552, or 32.86%, from the previous fee of RMB1,680.

BaaS users who choose to buy out their battery packs in the future will be able to recover a significant portion of the rental fees they have paid, a benefit not previously available.

Since the adjustment, NIO’s deliveries have surged, with each of the last three months exceeding 20,000 units, effectively doubling the average of around 10,000 deliveries per month seen in the first quarter, per the report.

Additionally, Qin announced today that NIO’s 6-series models—the ES6 and EC6—have collectively reached the 300,000-unit milestone in cumulative deliveries.

Price Action: NIO shares are trading higher by 6.34% to $4.19 premarket at last check Friday.

Photo via Shutterstock

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.