NIO lands in Europe
The car manufacturer NIO lands in Europe starting from the Norwegian capital, it will then be the turn of five other European countries. The goal of the Shanghai company is therefore to launch a large sales and service network thanks to the opening of a Power Swap Station which will be inaugurated in Oslo in the third quarter of 2021.detail, the Chinese manufacturer specializing in the design and development of electric vehicles plans to build special service centers in Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim and Kristiansand in 2022, continuing with the installation of automated battery change stations in other locations.
The launch in the European market will definitely help us grow and set a higher level as we are entering developed countries with more aggressive competition. The decision to debut in Norway is only the first step in a broader strategy, which will lead NIO to sell in other European markets as well, said founder William Li.
We are inevitably talking about a big step forward that will lead the Chinese company to further expansion on the global market. The first model to debut in the old continent will be the ES8 SUV, whose deliveries will begin in September, followed by the ET7 sedan. Let's not forget that the choice to start from Norway is not so casual if we consider that the Scandinavian country is currently the leading nation in the world in the transition to green mobility, a confirmation arrived from the numbers of March where 84.9% of cars sold were electric or plug-in hybrid.
In addition to the sale of cars, NIO itself has decided to offer all its customers additional services such as automated battery swap stations, which have recently reached the second generation and are currently only present in China. As mentioned, however, the stated goal is to continue with the installation of new stations also in Norway by the end of 2021.
In detail, the first battery swap station will be built in Oslo, but in 2022 NIO aims to open 12 centers, whose locations have already been identified. Just in recent months, the Shanghai-based company has developed automated stations that deal with exchanging flat batteries with charged batteries on site, presenting version 2.0 after celebrating the overcoming of the 2 million changes made. The new Swap Station 2.0 allows you to replace the car battery with a 100% charge in a very short time of about 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
The USB charger for your car is available on Amazon.
Nio Is Expanding To The EV Promised Land
© Image: NioAfter a remarkable 2020, Nio is back on an upward trajectory — and its next target is Europe. The fabled EV haven of Norway, to be more precise.
The Chinese EV startup said Wednesday that on May 6 it will outline plans to sell its cars in Norway. To date, Nio has sold vehicles only in China, so this is a big moment for a brand that was on the brink of collapse a little more than a year ago.
That was before a group of state-backed entities — including tech giants Tencent and Baidu — swooped in to inject the struggling EV firm with more than a billion dollars. It went on to sell more than 40,000 cars last year and followed that up with the introduction of its first sedan, the ET7, in January.
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Nio’s lineup currently consists of four vehicles, including three crossovers called the EC6, ES6 and ES8, aside from the aforementioned sedan. At this point we don’t know which models Nio plans to enter Norway with. We also don’t know whether the company will try to grow a network of automated battery swapping stations in the region — a feat it’s been able to pull off and that its contemporaries, including Tesla, have not found success with.
There’s also Nio’s battery-as-a-service pricing scheme to consider, where buyers pay a reduced rate for a vehicle, before a monthly fee for a battery pack of their choice.
We’ll learn next week to what degree all of these aspects factor into Nio’s European introduction Europe. Don’t be surprised to see the company extend farther west, depending on how its products are received in Norway. In February, a financial analyst discovered the startup was looking to hire personnel to “formulate an action plan to enter the U.S. market.” Given the suspicion the U.S. government tends to hold toward Chinese tech firms, that might be easier said than done. But Nio seems keen on giving it a shot anyway.