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NIO (NYSE:NIO) had been playing on the backfoot ever since Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) unveiled sweeping plans to overhaul its battery architecture at the much-anticipated Battery day event earlier this week. Today, NIO has clapped back by announcing a new "Destination Rapid Charging Service” – dubbed the Power Up Plan – at Beijing International Automotive Exhibition 2020.
#NIO launched Power Up plan to install 20kW Power Home Plus at 30,000+ destinations in China with 100 million RMB investment for local business partners.
— NIOtime (@theniotime) September 26, 2020
This rapid charging facility will be offered under the ambit of NIO’s Battery as a Service (BaaS) offering which allows users to rent their EV’s entry-level 70KWh battery pack by paying only RMB980 ($141) per month as the BaaS subscription fee. This subscription option slashes RMB70,000 ($10,116) off the purchase of ES8, ES6, and EC6 models, thereby, making these EVs more affordable.
It should be noted that NIO already offers a variety of charging solutions (detailed on S-65 and S-66 of the prospectus) to its customers. These include a dedicated home charging solution, called the Power Home, as well as a battery swapping service, dubbed Power Swap. Additionally, NIO also offers a mobile charging solution, called Power Mobile, whereby an EV may be charged through a fleet of charging trucks. Moreover, the Power Express is a 24-hour facility available on-demand to NIO customers whereby EVs are picked up, charged, and then dropped off at a pre-chosen spot. Finally, NIO customers can also access China’s network of 214,000 charging stations.
NIO is also one of 20 Chinese companies and organizations that have now signed a declaration on building an Eco-circle for the "Body-to-Battery Separation" Model applicable to New Energy Vehicles (NEVs). As a refresher, the battery swap model envisions centralized and shared battery charging, storage, and dissemination services, creating cost-cutting benefits for EV players in China. Bear in mind that this model is uniquely suited for China where the fast charging infrastructure is still chronically under-developed.
At the event held within the purview of the exhibition, NIO also unveiled OS 2.7.0 version upgrade of its Navigate on Pilot (NOP) assist functionality.
Of course, these developments follow another milestone today when NIO commenced the deliveries for its EC6 SUV that was revealed earlier on the 24th of July.
Today, we officially began delivery of the EC6, our 5-seater premium electric coupe SUV. #BlueSkyComing #NIOEC6 pic.twitter.com/WDXRjQldw2
— NIO (@NIOGlobal) September 25, 2020
As per the details, the newest NIO offering has a drag coefficient of only 0.26 and can accelerate from 0 to 100 kph in 4.5 seconds. The EV's standard 70 kWh battery pack offers a range of 440 km. On the other hand, the 100 kWh battery pack offers a range of up to 615 km. Moreover, the high-end version of the EC6 is expected to cost around 526,000 yuan ($77,000).
