NIO. Right from the sky
NIO is a Chinese automobile manufacturer founded in 2014 by businessman William Li, who is also labeled a Jack Ma of the automobile industry, a tribute to William’s entrepreneurial skills. Today NIO produces four models of electric vehicles with a volume of about 50 thousand per year. At the same time, the capitalization of a small company is fantastic, reaching 57 billion dollars, beating the record of Ford! Rapid growth, gigantic capitalization, beautiful electric vehicles… NIO is following Tesla’s path, promising to give a competitive battle to its American counterpart. Therefore, this company could not escape the honorary status of ‘Tesla Killer’, which is given to every new manufacturer of electric vehicles.
Li’s path
William Li’s (Li Bin) path to the pinnacle of success was as straightforward as Chinese chopsticks. A boy from a simple peasant family, who grew up on a dairy farm, ate well and helped his parents save money for his studies at Peking University.
According to official information, NIO means ‘Sky-Blue Coming’, which figuratively marks the beginning of the era of environmental cleanliness.
Having graduated from university, Li went into business. In 2000, he founded Bitauto Holdings Ltd. After becoming a billionaire, Li sold the company in 2013. In 2014, he created NIO. In the first years of the company’s existence, such “monsters” as Tencent, Temasek, Sequoia, Lenovo and TPG invested a lot of money in it. According to official information, NIO means “Sky-Blue Coming”, which figuratively marks the beginning of the era of environmental cleanliness.
Vehicles
NIO produces several models of electric vehicles, and all of them are characterized by technological design and high engine power.
Racing models:
- The NIO EP9 (Electric Performance) is an electric two-seater sports car produced by NIO for racing in Formula E, an open-wheel electric racing competition.
- The EP9 is a pure racing model, the lap record holder on the Circuit of the Americas, Shanghai International Circuit and Circuit Paul Ricard. The chassis and body of the vehicle are made of carbon fiber. Each wheel is equipped with its own motor and transmission.
Each motor offer an output of 250 kW (335.25 hp), which provides a total power output of 1 MW (1,341 hp, 1,360 hp). The EP9 can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.7 seconds, to 200 km/h in 7.1 seconds, to 300 km/h in 15.9 seconds. The maximum speed is 350 km/h.
SUVs:
- The NIO EC6 is a quite large 5-door 5-seater crossover coupe, 4.8 meters long, with very powerful engines, producing up to 536 hp in the strongest configuration.
- The NIO ES6 is an all-electric 5-seater mid-size aluminum SUV. It differs little from the EC6. It is equipped with a lithium-ion battery with the capacity of 70, 84 or 100 kW/h, depending on the configuration. The vehicle’s driving range is up to 510 km.
- The NIO ES8 is a 7-seater full-size crossover estate. It is equipped with a lithium-ion battery with the capacity of 70, 84 or 100 kW/h, depending on the configuration. The vehicle’s driving range reaches 500 km.
Batteries
NIO electric cars are really good, but they are not so much interesting as NIO batteries, more precisely, a fast charging know-how. In a typical electric car, the batteries are fixed inside the car and need to be recharged, which takes a decent amount of time. Even today’s fast chargers need at least about half an hour to charge electric vehicle batteries up to 80%.
NIO has come up with an easy way to quickly charge up to 100% in 3 minutes using replaceable batteries. When the battery is discharged, the electric vehicle is driven into the garage and a specially trained Chinese expert replaces the battery with a fully charged one. It is not necessary, the battery can be charged in the traditional way, but such a service is available.
In China, NIO has built 191 replacement stations in 76 cities and plans to increase the number of stations to 500 by the end of 2021. In addition, the NIO electric car buyer gains access to a service department that chases electric vehicles across the country and replaces batteries if the replacement station is far away.
Tesla tried to implement a similar project, but it was closed in 2015, having existed for only three years, because there was no demand for the service. NIO electric vehicles are unlikely to generate buzz outside of China. But replacing the batteries looks interesting, despite Tesla’s bad experience. Therefore, the question of whether NIO will be able to arrange battery replacement in the same way as in China, but outside of China, becomes the main one in terms of the prospects of the Chinese company.
