Rumours suggest that the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer is to launch a new range of affordable EVs and a smartphone.

Reports in China suggest that Nio intends to produce a more affordable electric vehicle as it looks to grow its market share in the rapidly evolving EV space.  Accounts suggest that the brand is codenamed Project Firefly and will see EVs produced at the US$15-30k range.  The carmaker has already confirmed that it's working on lower-cost range of EVs, codenamed ALPS, aimed at the US$22-44k segment.

Also last week, it was reported that Nio has also set up a smartphone subsidiary with a registered capital of US$100M.  Nio Mobile Technology was incorporated in Anting, Shanghai, where the carmaker is headquartered.

The reports, if true, highlight the continued ambition of the Chinese start-up.   Nio was founded in 2014, listed in 2018, and weathered financial woes in 2019 before securing a US$1Bn injection from state-backed Chinese investors in early 2020.  The company intends on selling its battery-swapping technology, which involves a five-minute process to remove the battery from underneath the vehicle, to other OEMs.  It leads the Chinese market in battery swapping, being the only OEM to have commercialised the process.  However, Project Blue believes the process isn’t likely to be commercially viable in all settings and requires a dense urban population and a lack of charging infrastructure and space to be most fruitful.  Nonetheless, Nio intends to have 1,000 swapping stations outside the country by 2025. 

The company is significantly ramping up its European business in 2022 with a new factory in Hungary set to open in September to serve as the manufacturing, service, and R&D centre for its power products in Europe.  European sales have already commenced in the Norway and NIO will expand into Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark in H2 2022.