Written by Cláudio Afonso | [email protected] | LinkedIn | X
In a media roundtable held at the Beijing Auto Show, Nio founders William Li and Lihong Qin revealed some updates on the 150kWh battery, partnerships on battery swap technology, and the upcoming sub-brand Onvo.
According to a transcript shared by the automotive blogger “钢炮同学啊“, Nio‘s partners Changan and Geely will use the same battery pack as Onvo. Nio founders guaranteed that the user experience of Nio owners at both charging and battery swapping stations won’t be affected as the company targets 1,000 new stations this year in China.
Will solid-state batteries replace battery swapping stations in the future?
“Mass production of solid-state batteries will take some time. Until the technology reaches a point where batteries can be fully charged in less than 3 minutes without damaging the battery chemistry, battery swapping will have overwhelming advantages,” William Li said.
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“Even when that time comes, battery swapping can be done without users having to handle dirty charging cables. Additionally, low-performance batteries will be swapped out, relieving users of concerns about battery lifespan,” he added.
How open will the strategic cooperation for battery swapping be, and how will the problem of different battery specifications among different car manufacturers be addressed?
“Nio Power is a very large commercial system. For example, in charging, 80% is done by other brands, but we ensure that conflicts are resolved in favor of Nio users”.
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Regarding battery swap, Nio chief executive said the same mindset applies guaranteeing that the user experience of Nio owners won’t be affected.
“The same goes for battery swapping; it’s a business model. As the user base grows, we can build more battery swapping stations. Each fourth-generation station can handle over 400 swaps per day, without affecting the Nio user experience”.
Additionally, it was disclosed that Changan and Geely (two of Nio partners for the battery swap technology), will use the same battery pack as Nio‘s first sub-brand Onvo.
“Changan and Geely will share Onvo‘s battery pack, which Lotus doesn’t use. In the future, there will be an exclusive network for Nio users. Onvo‘s battery swapping stations are also being deployed.
With the current penetration rate of new energy vehicles exceeding 50%, indicating a watershed between oil and electricity, was Onvo launched based on this timing?
We proposed the concept of “2024 and 2025 are the elimination rounds” in January 2019. It now proves that our judgment was correct.
What is the pricing range for Onvo?
“The brand and product will be unveiled in mid-May, with pricing to be announced later. There will also be a third brand in the future”.
Nio’s second sub-brand is codenamed Firefly and will focus in smaller and cheaper models priced around $27,000 (200,000 yuan). The sub-brand will also feature Nio’s battery swapping technology and is primarily targeted at the European market, per Nio‘s co-founder and president Lihong Qin in late January.
According to official documents shared on Weibo, the factory responsible for producing Firefly vehicles is planned to have an annual output of 120,000 body structural parts. Construction is set to commence in June of this year, with completion and operation expected by December.
The timeline mentioned in these filings is according to recent comments by Nio founder and co-founder that targeted the arrival of Firefly’s first model to 2025.
The 2024 version of the ET7 has an executive version now. What is the sales target?
“Over the past two years, the ET7 has sold 30,000 units, making it the top-selling pure electric sedan with over 400,000 units, also ranking first in the cumulative market for sedans priced over 400,000 yuan among all Chinese brands”.
“With the precise positioning of the executive version in the 567E market, we hope to reach more users and gain acceptance. Nio has always been a pioneer in the high-end market, breaking new ground for the Chinese automobile industry, from the ES8 to the ET7 entering the core executive vehicle market of BBA (BMW, Mercedes Benz and Audi). It’s a challenging endeavor, but we are confident in our future prospects”.
Earlier this week, Lotus and Nio announced the cooperation in charging and battery swapping technologies. Nio has currently over 2,404 battery swap stations and 21,000 chargers across China.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | [email protected] | LinkedIn | X
