Nio‘s founder and Chief Executive Officer William Li said battery supply has become the primary bottleneck limiting deliveries of the company’s best selling model, adding that the constraint is expected to ease in January when production capacity will exceed vehicle output.
“When resources for the 102 kWh battery are in short supply, everyone needs to wait a bit,” Li said at an event in China on Friday, referring to the three row SUV Nio ES8.
“Right now, one of the main bottlenecks for ES8 deliveries is batteries. The number of batteries that can currently be produced determines how many vehicles we can deliver,” the CEO added. “So even our delivery speed is affected.”
Nio Group‘s main battery suppliers are CATL — its partner, investor and the world’s largest battery maker — and CALB.
CALB is focused on lithium battery technology and is backed by Nio Capital, an investment firm co-founded by Nio‘s CEO.
The EV maker has been prioritizing battery production for ES8 assembly over its battery swap network since late September, a trade-off that temporarily constrained the infrastructure that allows drivers to exchange depleted packs for charged ones in minutes.
Li acknowledged Nio underestimated demand for the third-generation ES8, which launched September 20 and sold out its 40,000-unit production allocation within minutes of pricing being announced.
“We didn’t originally expect the ES8 to be this popular again this year, so we started placing more conservative orders with battery suppliers,” Li said. “Now for deliveries, we definitely need to prioritize user deliveries.”
Tax Incentives Drive Urgency
The CEO highlighted financial pressure to maximize 2025 deliveries before China reduces purchase incentives for new energy vehicles starting January 1.
“For every vehicle we deliver this year, our company can save some money. Because if we deliver next year, we have to reimburse users for the purchase tax, right?” Li said. “So this year we’ve also given our users some loyalty points as a gesture of goodwill for waiting.”
Nio has implemented a “peace-of-mind” subsidy program that shields buyers from potential purchase tax increases if production delays push deliveries into 2026, with compensation capped at 15,000 yuan ($2,100).
January Production Outlook
Li said the battery shortage will ease next month as manufacturing ramps up.
“That situation will ease up in January next year. In January, our battery production will exceed our vehicle production capacity,” he said. “So starting in January, we’ll put all the surplus batteries into the battery swap system.”
The CEO’s comments came the same day Onvo, Nio‘s mass-market sub-brand, announced plans to add more than 8,000 battery packs to swap stations by mid-January under what it called a “national battery-swap station battery doubling plan.”
“Actually, if you look at our Onvo brand, we issued news today saying we’re implementing a doubling plan for the entire battery swap system. We plan to add about 8,000 Onvo batteries to swap stations within roughly a month,” Li said.
“So once production capacity ramps up, we’ll immediately start replenishing. So fortunately, everyone just needs to wait a little over a month more,” he added.
Delivery Times Reducing
Nio earlier this week updated the estimated delivery time for ES8 orders to 20-21 weeks, down from 22-23 weeks previously and 24-26 weeks at launch.
The model delivered 10,677 units in November, a 59.3% sequential increase from October’s 6,703.
The ES8 reached its 20,000th delivery last week, 70 days after customer handovers began across more than 40 Chinese cities — the fastest time to reach that milestone for pure electric vehicles priced above 400,000 yuan ($56,600), according to Nio.
Marketing Vice-President Kang Kai recently said that December production could reach 20,000 units, which would make the ES8 the fastest-produced vehicle in NIO’s history and exceed the company’s earlier target of 15,000 units for the month.
The ES8 six-seat Executive Signature Edition is priced at 446,800 yuan ($63,200), while the Executive Luxury Edition begins at 406,800 yuan ($57,500).
A seven-seat Executive Luxury Edition is also available at the same 406,800 yuan starting price.
