Founded by William Li, Nio is just a six year old electric car company. Its parallels of success with Tesla are uncanny. With a passionate customer base, a quirky personality of the founder, and a skyrocketing market share, Nio is Tesla’s most predictable nemesis.
Nio, earlier in the year, unveiled its first sedan exactly when it is Tesla’s most popular model. The all-electric ET7 sedan’s cost will start at 448,000 yuan before government subsidiaries. Its deliveries will resume in the first quarter of 2022.
The company has also launched a volume battery pack which can improve driving range, have an upgraded autopilot system, and has a battery swap feature at swap stations, where instead of re-charging the battery, it can be replaced. Nio targets at making more than 500 power swap stations by the end of 2021.
Nio started out being criticised for putting all its money into marketing and silver studded showrooms, as it even ran out of cash doing so while making less profits. It was a turning point in the company’s journey when they received a billion dollars as investment from entities in the municipal government of Hefei, and a 1.5 billion dollar credit line from Chinese banks. Since then, it has only been an uphill battle for Nio.