In business, Chinese companies usually have a winner-takes-all attitude。This can be clearly seen in the current bottom-to-bottom competition in electric vehicle pricing, which is mainly initiated by market leader BYD。That spirit may go some way to explaining the current state of NIO and its brand strategy, and why Firefly's battery swap is incompatible.。

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Although NIO has been plagued by various problems over the years, the root cause has always been sales volume.。What Weilai needs to do most is to increase sales.。NIO's June sales reached 21,209 units, a new high for a single month, which is clearly an encouraging sign。However, NIO continues to send encouraging signals, but unlike the ideal car, it has never been able to follow up and grow in tandem。

NIO seems to have realized early on that the NIO brand alone is not enough, which may be why it initially formed joint ventures with GAC and Changan。These came to naught due to Weilai's financial problems.。Onvo is the latest foray into the mass market, and NIO CEO and founder Li Bin has high hopes for the brand's first car, the L60。It has a battery exchange function and is compatible with NIO's fourth-generation exchange station and an improved third-generation exchange station。If Onvo is successful, NIO will launch another car brand that uses a power exchange station。

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对于蔚来来说，电池更换是其与竞争对手的主要区别之一。从用户的角度来看，更换电池比充电要快得多，这也意味着购买者无需担心电池衰减。此外，它还摆脱了因更换电池而支付巨额费用的担忧。

However, the cost of the network is huge, the China Daily quoted NIO as saying that each third-generation base station is priced at 3 million yuan ($412,650), and said that from 2018 to mid-2023, NIO accumulated revenue of 76.4 billion yuan (10.5 USD)。billion) of debt is due in part to the clearing house。Previously, William Lee had said that each station needed to be exchanged about 60 times a day to break even.。Nio charges a fee for each exchange and can also make money from managi to meet surges in electricity demand through grid storage, though it's unclear whether NIO does so.。It should also be noted that the cost of European exchange stations may be higher。

Data for June showed that Weilai drivers 54.14% of "charging" is done using a power exchange station, while the second highest figure is home charging, which is 23.79%。The rest includes 18% of third-party public charging piles and 4% of Weilai public charging piles..07%。

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In terms of battery replacement, NIO is by far the leader in China。The only other practical use is often limited to taxi fleets.。In 2022, battery giant Ningde Times established its own power exchange service EVOGO, but the service is still reportedly limited to Xiamen, Quanzhou, Hefei, Guiyang and Fuzhou.。

NIO has been trying to attract other manufacturers to use its power exchange system, and its current power exchange alliance members include GAC, Geely, Chery, FAW, Changan and Jianghuai.。The problem is not one of them, but it seems that cars compatible with the NIO exchange system have been produced。If they do, there's a real chance that the Weilai exchange will go from being a drain of money to a source of income.。

The logic of launching a third brand almost at the same time as the second brand is very questionable。The brand, code-named "Firefly," aims to target the European market and will focus on small cars.。But is it really necessary to create a brand new brand to do this?？If Onvo's goal is to become a mass-market bra, can Onvo not do it?？Again？

The most important reason that leads to the answer is no is the wheelbase limit of the Weilai battery replacement station。The wheelbase of Weilai's second, third and third generation power exchange stations is limited to 2800 mm.。Although we do not currently know the limitations of the fourth generation exchange station, we can assume that it may be the same。It is very difficult to make a small car with a wheelbase of 2800mm。

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As far as we know, the Firefly brand will provide battery swapping, but it is not compatible with Nio's existing swap stations。William Lee, CEO and founder of NIO, has said that the Firefly exchange will be the size of a container for selling coffee.。Building such a network would be very expensive。Currently, NIO has only about 50 swap stations in Europe, and building another network of swap stations seems daunting given NIO's poor sales in Europe so far.。Similarly, making a car compatible with battery replacement will also increase the cost and complexity of the car。Considering the Firefly brand's low-cost goal, it's best to stick to charging。

One reason for this is that NIO plans to sell smaller battery swap sizes to one of its brand's battery swap partners.。The current size r is also bound to be a limiting factor for other brands wishing to use the battery exchange standards developed by NIO.。By developing another standard suitable for small cars, this may be a way to convince some partners to use the NIO standard。However, there are still big questions about whether partners will actually adopt NIO's battery replacement standards。In China, it is common for major announcements to be made without any follow-up action.。

Which brings us back to the winner-take-all business attitude。By formulating two battery replacement size standards, one for medium and large cars and the other for small cars, Weilai can effectively control all battery replacement markets, that is, the winner takes all。Of course, the biggest question is whether the winner will really go all out when it comes to battery replacement。As the battery charging time using fast charging continues to decrease, the need to replace the battery ping value is decreasing。It's hard to say how long battery swapping will remain a competitive advantage for NIO, especially given the cost of having two different battery swapping networks.。

Source: China Daily, Autohome, China Daily, Cleantechnica

<p><img src="https://hawk-oss.hawkinsight.com//picture//202407/367925714_584.jpg" style="width: 100%;">In business, Chinese companies usually have a winner-takes-all attitude。This can be clearly seen in the current bottom-to-bottom competition in electric vehicle pricing, which is mainly initiated by market leader BYD。That spirit may go some way to explaining the current state of NIO and its brand strategy, and why Firefly's battery swap is incompatible.。-Advertising-Although NIO has been plagued by various problems over the years, the root cause has always been sales volume。What Weilai needs to do most is to increase sales.。NIO's June sales reached 21,209 units, a new high for a single month, which is clearly an encouraging sign。However, NIO continues to send encouraging signals, but unlike the ideal car, it has never been able to follow up and grow in tandem。NIO seems to have realized early on that the NIO brand alone is not enough, which may be why it initially formed joint ventures with GAC and Changan。These came to naught due to Weilai's financial problems.。Onvo is the latest foray into the mass market, and NIO CEO and founder Li Bin has high hopes for the brand's first car, the L60。It has a battery exchange function and is compatible with NIO's fourth-generation exchange station and an improved third-generation exchange station。If Onvo is successful, NIO will launch another car brand that uses a power exchange station。-Advertisement - < Picture re-class = "wp-block-image size-large" > Onvo L60 using Nio battery exchange station For NIO, battery replacement is one of the main differences between it and its competitors。From the user's point of view, replacing the battery is much faster than charging, which also means that buyers do not need to worry about battery attenuation。In addition, it also got rid of the fear of paying huge fees for replacing batteries。However, the cost of the network is huge, the China Daily quoted NIO as saying that each third-generation base station is priced at 3 million yuan ($412,650), and said that from 2018 to mid-2023, NIO accumulated revenue of 76.4 billion yuan (10.5 USD)。billion) of debt is due in part to the clearing house。Previously, William Lee had said that each station needed to be exchanged about 60 times a day to break even.。Nio charges a fee for each exchange and can also make money from managi to meet surges in electricity demand through grid storage, though it's unclear whether NIO does so.。It should also be noted that the cost of European exchange stations may be higher。A Weilai ET7 is replacing power station 3 with Weilai installed in Jiading Nanxiang Weilai Distribution Center..0 for power exchange in Shanghai, China。Data for June showed that Weilai drivers 54.14% of "charging" is done using a power exchange station, while the second highest figure is home charging, which is 23.79%。The rest includes 18% of third-party public charging piles and 4% of Weilai public charging piles..07%。-Advertising-In terms of battery replacement, NIO is by far the leader China。The only other practical use is often limited to taxi fleets.。In 2022, battery giant Ningde Times established its own power exchange service EVOGO, but the service is still reportedly limited to Xiamen, Quanzhou, Hefei, Guiyang and Fuzhou.。NIO has been trying to attract other manufacturers to use its power exchange system, and its current power exchange alliance members include GAC, Geely, Chery, FAW, Changan and Jianghuai.。The problem is not one of them, but it seems that cars compatible with the NIO exchange system have been produced。If they do, there's a real chance that the Weilai exchange will go from being a drain of money to a source of income.。The logic of launching a third brand almost at the same time as the second brand is very questionable。The brand, code-named "Firefly," aims to target the European market and will focus on small cars.。But is it really necessary to create a brand new brand to do this?？If Onvo's goal is to become a mass-market bra, can Onvo not do it?？Again？The most important reason why the firefly prototype leads to the answer is no is the wheelbase limit of the Weilai battery replacement station。The wheelbase of Weilai's second, third and third generation power exchange stations is limited to 2800 mm.。Although we do not currently know the limitations of the fourth generation exchange station, we can assume that it may be the same。It is very difficult to make a small car with a wheelbase of 2800mm。< Graph class = "wp-block image size is large" > Firefly prototype As far as we know, the Firefly brand will provide battery swap function, but it is not compatible with Nio's existing swap station。William Lee, CEO and founder of NIO, has said that the Firefly exchange will be the size of a container for selling coffee.。Building such a network would be very expensive。Currently, NIO has only about 50 swap stations in Europe, and building another network of swap stations seems daunting given NIO's poor sales in Europe so far.。Similarly, making a car compatible with battery replacement will also increase the cost and complexity of the car。Considering the Firefly brand's low-cost goal, it's best to stick to charging。One reason for this is that NIO plans to sell smaller battery swap sizes to one of its brand's battery swap partners.。The current size r is also bound to be a limiting factor for other brands wishing to use the battery exchange standards developed by NIO.。By developing another standard suitable for small cars, this may be a way to convince some partners to use the NIO standard。However, there are still big questions about whether partners will actually adopt NIO's battery replacement standards。In China, it is common for major announcements to be made without any follow-up action.。Which brings us back to the winner-take-all business attitude。By formulating two battery replacement size standards, one for medium and large cars and the other for small cars, Weilai can effectively control all battery replacement markets, that is, the winner takes all。Of course, the biggest question is whether the winner will really go all out when it comes to battery replacement。As the battery charging time using fast charging continues to decrease, the need to replace the battery ping value is decreasing。It's hard to say how long battery swapping will remain a competitive advantage for NIO, especially given the cost of having two different battery swapping networks.。Source: China Daily, Autohome, China Daily, Cleantechnica</p>