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NioDAY, the closely watched annual event of NIO, was held as scheduled on the evening of December 18. As always, Weilai founder Li Bin introduced the latest model ET5 with a passionate tone.
NIODAY Shanghai Breakout
Compared with the NIODAY event held at the beginning of this year, when the solid-state battery and chip computing power were several times that of Tesla and other information that detonated the market for several days, this conference was indeed not as cool as expected.
However, from Li Bin's only words, it can be found that Weilai has hidden mysteries in terms of sales, the layout of charging and replacing facilities, etc.
New models will go the volume Internationalization will accelerate
NIO's latest model ET5
According to the information provided by Weilai officially, whether it is the interior space or the digital cockpit and the autonomous driving technology on board, the ET5 configuration is extremely cost-effective, and there are as many as 9 colors to choose from.
Nio positions ET5 as a medium-sized intelligent electric coupe, and the price advantage of ET5 is very obvious compared to the first four models of NIO. The starting price is 328,000 yuan before the ET5 subsidy and 258,000 yuan before the BaaS (battery rental) program subsidy, and delivery is expected to start in September 2022.
Launching such a new car, Weilai obviously has new considerations.
When looking forward to the market, Li Bin predicts that in China's new car market in 2030, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles will exceed 90%. Li Bin also said that at present, Weilai's delivery volume is 4 years behind Tesla, which is equivalent to Tesla's sales when it has not yet launched model 3. The newly released ET5 will become the most ordered model ever ordered by NIO, and will also help NIO continue to increase delivery.
Li Bin in an interview with the media on the 18th, also compared ET5 with Tesla's hot-selling Model 3, Model Y, claiming that the dual motor version configuration is basically the same, although the price of ET5 is high, but the cost-effective advantage is stronger than model 3.
Li Bin also said that the internationalization process of WEILAI will be accelerated. Following the entry into the Norwegian market this year, NIO's products and system-wide services will be officially launched in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark in 2022, and will enter more than 25 countries and regions in 2025.
Solid-state batteries are getting closer and closer
Like other models of Weilai, ET5 will also be equipped with different types of standard battery packs of Weilai according to the needs of car owners, namely 75 degrees of electric standard battery packs, 100 degrees of electric long battery packs and 150 degrees of electric long battery packs.
It is worth noting that the 150-degree battery pack with a range of more than 1000 kilometers is a solid-state battery. According to the timeline given by NIO, it will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2022.
At the beginning of this year, Weilai released the news that it will use solid-state batteries, which triggered continuous hot discussions in the market, and made various speculations about whether it is a solid-state battery or a semi-solid-state battery, battery suppliers and other topics.
The reporter of Shanghai Securities News learned through many interviews that as a C-end enterprise, WEILAI has long been deeply involved in the research and development and design of battery packs, and has invested in related enterprises.
How to define a solid-state battery, the content of the electrolyte is crucial. At present, many enterprises specializing in the research and development of solid-state batteries control the electrolyte content of solid-state batteries at 10% to 11%. However, some sources told reporters that Weilai's solid-state battery is an all-solid-state battery that controls the electrolyte content within 10%.
In the past year, Weilai has never changed its statement on the time of solid-state batteries to market. 2022 is just around the corner, which means that the time to unveil the solid-state battery veil is getting closer and closer.
The power exchange mode has become a magic weapon for Weilai's differentiated competition
In the statistics of WEIlai's charging and replacing facilities, a very interesting data was found.
77.1% of WEILAI's charging power serves third-party users, which means that most of the charging piles in WEILAI's layout are serving car owners of other brands. Weilai car owners prefer to charge by changing the power. Li Bin reconfirmed at NIODAY that power replacement has become the most popular way for Weilai users to replenish energy.
Power exchange has become the mainstream choice, relying on a strong power exchange network. As of December 18, WEILAI's substations nationwide reached 733. At present, five high-speed power exchange networks have been opened, including G50 Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway, G1 Beijing-Harbin Expressway, G2 Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway, and G60 Shanghai-Kunming Expressway.
Li Bin announced that next year, WEILAI will continue to lay out the charging and replacing service network, and plans to have more than 1,300 substations, 6,000 supercharge piles, 10,000 destination charging piles nationwide, and open up more than 30 destination charging routes such as the Silk Road and Xishuangbanna Rainforest.
In the view of researchers in the automotive industry, the power exchange model has long become a magic weapon for Weilai to differentiate and compete with other brands.
The latest news shows that with the encouragement and support of power exchange policies have been released, traditional energy enterprises represented by PetroChina and Sinopec have begun to strengthen cooperation with the new energy vehicle industry chain in charging and replacing layout, and the development prospects of the power exchange model are gradually optimistic about the market.
Edit: Lin Jian
Proofreader: Feng Wenjun
Editor: Zhang Dawei
Producer: Ji Yuliang
Editor-in-charge: Shao Ziyi
Producer: Pu Hongyi
Issued: Pan Linqing