Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Qu Yu, the recently appointed chief financial officer (CFO) of the EV maker Nio, participated at the 31st Annual Conference of the China Society of Automotive Engineers in Chongqing on Tuesday and commented on the company’s battery swap investment.
At a panel talk focused on “Globalization and Sustainable Development in the Automotive Industry,” the CFO said the break-even is achieved when a station provides 60-70 battery swaps per day.
In Shanghai, where the EV maker is headquartered, Nio operates over 150 battery swap stations, most exceeding 100 swaps per day, according to the executive.
Qu Yu added that the battery swapping technology prolongs battery life and allows interaction with the power grid, adding social value.
“In terms of investment intensity, Nio’s R&D investment is on par with both domestic and international automakers,” the CFO noted after revealing that the company has recently reached 9,300 filed or granted patents globally.
As it celebrates ten years, Nio has invested so far 50 billion yuan in R&D activities with an annual average of 10 billion yuan since 2022, according to Qu Yu.
On Wednesday, Nio‘s founder and CEO William Li admitted that there are “many areas” where the company needs to improve in response to a long critical text shared by a customer on the brand’s official app in China.
The critical post, written by a self-described “die-hard Nio fan,” shared concerns about the company’s long-term strategies and questioned the EV maker’s ability to balance ambitious goals with practical execution.
A few hours later, after the post became viral in the Nio App, William Li answered, admitting that the company is “far from perfect” while thanking the customer for the feedback.
“Thank you for the heartfelt feedback. Nio is indeed far from perfect, and there are many areas we need to improve. We will keep working hard!,” the company’s founder and CEO commented.
Nio will release its third-quarter earnings next week, on November 20, with a conference call scheduled for 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
As reported earlier this week, Fidelity’s subsidiary Geode Capital Management has nearly exited its position in Nio, four and a half years after first investing in the company.
According to its latest quarterly filing, the asset manager reduced its stake in the Shanghai-headquartered company by 94.07% in the third quarter of this year.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
