The legendary Tempodrom in Berlin is modeled on a circus. A fitting place for self-made billionaire William Li to step into the arena to celebrate the European launch of NIO. NIO is an innovative electric car brand and something like a Chinese national automotive circus that digs pretty deep into its bag of tricks when it comes to horsepower training. The first impression when presenting the NIO trio ET7, EL7 and ET5, which is now being launched in five European markets (Germany, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden): beautiful acrobat. An Austrian market launch has not yet been determined, but it will be ready by 2025 at the latest.
In 2014, Li said he wanted to start an activity against climate change by founding NIO. His start-up almost crashed again after a steep start, but China’s rulers have straightened out the financial difficulties with an aid package worth around one billion euros. Now NIO has picked up speed, after a trial year in the electric car Eldorado Norway, the Chinese are ready to compete in the European premium segment against providers such as Mercedes, BMW, Audi or Tesla.
Tesla seems to be the benchmark at all. It is no coincidence that many media refer to Li as China’s Elon Musk, the powerful NIO models (all accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in less than four seconds) also appear to be parked close to the fleet of the US electric car pioneer. And yet many things are different at NIO.
hope called “swap”
The most important unique selling point is the battery management. NIO has now set up more than 1100 “swap” stations, where the old battery is replaced with a fully charged new one in five minutes. Customers who are not called customers but “users” at NIO can, for example, choose a more powerful battery (maximum 150 kWh, range of around 1000 kilometers) before going on vacation. Normally, the 75-kilowatt-hour battery is sufficient. “Flexibility is the new premium,” says Germany’s NIO General Manager Ralph Kranz about this system. In Europe there should be more than 120 swap stations by 2023, “normal” refueling at the conventional charging stations is of course also possible.
On a technical level, NIO also stands out with a special camera system that anticipates the future of autonomous driving. An extremely fast computer (1016 tera operations/tops per second) processes the data and feeds it to assistance systems and other areas of artificial intelligence. So that nobody has to talk to the air when using the voice control, a Tamagotchi-like egg named Nomi is enthroned in the middle of the cockpit, which grants all possible wishes with a friendly wink. If that’s too infantile for you, you can alternatively choose a voice system with a discreet flashing light. When it comes to comfort, NIO claims to put a cozy living room on wheels. With a Dolby Atmos cinema system including VAR glasses or the massage function on all four seats, you almost overshoot the mark.
Subscribers instead of buyers
It will be particularly exciting to see how the “users” will accept the NIO distribution system. You cannot buy a NIO in Europe (except in Norway), you can only subscribe to it. There is a kind of “all-inclusive” package that also includes maintenance for a price of a thousand euros or more per month (maximum 60 months). “Subscribers” can also collect loyalty points, which can be used to get various lifestyle products cheaper in the NIO shop. NIO does not want to build up a normal customer base, but rather a user community that is to have a say in the development of the company in an advisory board.
It’s no big surprise that China can build great electric cars. Such a grassroots-democratic approach to the business model – including an “Ikea culture” with the company’s internal first-name terms – comes as a bit of a surprise.
App, subscription and 648 hp
Having sold almost 250,000 vehicles since its inception, NIO is still a small manufacturer. With its NIO app, the company is already communicating with a large fan community – the program has now been downloaded more than two million times in China. The NIO Life brand uses surplus materials from car production such as airbags, seat belts and leather for its own fashion line. More than five million lifestyle items are said to have been sold through this brand to date.
The NIO ET7, which can now be subscribed to in Germany, has a system output of 648 hp and a maximum torque of 850 Newton meters. Range: 500 to 1000 kilometers, depending on the battery.
Source: Nachrichten
