Nio founder and CEO William Li has pushed back against Xiaomi’s claim that its new YU7 SUV is the longest-range electric SUV on the market, reminding that Nio allows customers to rent a 150kWh semi-solid-state battery in China and reach a range of over 1,000 km.
Li addressed the issue during a media roundtable in Hefei on Friday, held the day after Onvo’s nearly three-hour launch event for the L90 SUV, the second model under its Onvo sub-brand.
“To this day, no one has surpassed the performance of our 150 kWh battery in a mass-produced vehicle,” Nio‘s chief said.
“So when someone recently claimed that it (Xiaomi YU7) set the longest pure electric range record for an SUV, does that mean our 150 kWh battery doesn’t exist?” Li questioned.
I personally tested the 1,000 km range, so yes, public discourse today does have influence — and that’s a big advantage,” he added.
Xiaomi made the claim in a press release at the YU7’s launch in late June. “835 km! The Longest-Range Large All-Electric SUV,” the company wrote.
“[…] The entry-level Standard version boasts a 835 km CLTC range — the best in the mid-to-large EV SUV class,” Xiaomi stated. The AWD versions also reach up to 770 km CLTC range, topping four-wheel-drive EVs in its class, allowing two full weeks of urban commuting or up to 1,000 km of long-distance travel on a single charge.”
While Xiaomi’s figures are based on the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC), Nio has conducted real-world range tests with the ET7 sedan under highway driving conditions to showcase the capabilities of its 150kWh battery, which it says is available across its entire model range, including SUVs.
The battery — developed in partnership with Beijing WeLion New Energy Technology — was unveiled during Nio Day 2020 in January 2021 and entered limited production in 2023.
It features 176 patents and, according to the company, “embodies globally leading battery technologies.”
In December 2023, Li drove an ET7 from Shanghai to Xiamen — a 1,044-kilometer journey completed with 7% battery remaining. At the 430-mile mark, the sedan still had 30% charge.
A few months later, in April 2024, Nio published verified results from range tests using the 2024 ET7 sedan equipped with the production version of the 150kWh pack.
“On April 16, the 2024 Nio ET7 with the production version 150kWh battery pack successfully completed its range tests… The three highway test routes achieved results of 1,046km, 1,062km, and 1,070km respectively,” the company said in a Weibo post.
Although Xiaomi’s YU7 is an SUV and the ET7 is a sedan, Nio has maintained that its 150kWh battery enables over 1,000 kilometers of real-world range across multiple body styles, including the newly launched Onvo L90.
The advanced semi-solid-state pack comes at a premium. In early 2023, Nio president and co-founder Qin Lihong said the battery costs approximately as much as the company’s most affordable model, the ET5.
At the time, the ET5 with a 75kWh battery was priced at 328,000 yuan (now equivalent to $45,700), or 258,000 yuan with battery leasing under Nio’s BaaS program, which charges 980 yuan monthly.
Last week, Lucid Motors set a Guinness World Record by driving 1,205.8 kilometers (749.2 miles) on a single charge in its Air Grand Touring.
