Chinese electric vehicle (EV) producer Nio Inc has propelled a battery renting service that will permit drivers to purchase an EV without possessing the battery pack – one of the most costly EV components – along these lines bringing down the beginning cost of its vehicles.

The service, called “battery as a service” (BaaS), involves drivers paying a monthly rental expense for use of the batteries.

The least expensive Nio vehicle after subsidies is presently an ES6 sport-utility vehicle (SUV) valued 273,600 yuan ($39,553) without responsibility for battery pack, versus 343,600 yuan including the pack.

“We believe with BaaS, more customers of gasoline cars will consider electric vehicles,” Nio’s chief executive William Li told reporters.

Nio works 143 battery-swapping stations around China, where drivers can swap spent battery packs for completely charged replacements. Li said Nio was building another battery-swapping station in China every week and intended to construct 300 new stations one year from now.

Li likewise said the firm planned to enter some international markets from the second half of next year beginning with some European nations. He added the firm expected to enter more markets from 2022.

The industry ministry has said it would promote the adoption of vehicles with batteries that can be swapped between various makes and models.

Keeping that in mind, Nio’s battery packs are a similar shape and size over its lineup, which is involved three SUVs. EV models from peer BAIC BluePark New Energy Technology Co Ltd <600733.SS> additionally have standardised batteries.

The batteries for Nio’s renting service will be provided by an organization set up by Chinese battery producers including leader Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd <300750.SZ>. The organization has registered capital of 800 million yuan, an government recording appeared.