NIO NIO Unveils Its First Electric Sedan, The ET7

wL0316 · Jan 10, 2021

NIO Unveils Its First Electric Sedan, The ET7
BY Andrew Gutman | Posted on January 9, 2021

We’ve been waiting for Chinese automaker NIO to release their electric sedan for quite some time now, and now it’s finally here. The ET7, as it’s called, is here to take the fight to the likes of Tesla, and it looks like they might be able to pull it off.
In China, technically, pre-subsidy prices for the ET7 sedan start from 378,000 yuan (equal to $58,380 at today’s exchange rates), but that’s without the batteries, which is one of the most expensive components of the car. Much like cable providers, in this case, you’ll have to lease the equipment (aka the batteries) from the automaker. Alternatively, you can buy the ET7 with batteries for 448,000 yuan (about $69,200).
The sedan includes such standout features as a “heartbeat taillight”, a laminated glass roof, heated, ventilated, and massaging seats in both rows, a 23-speaker sound system, and a low drag coefficient of just 0.23.
The driving range for the standard 70-kWh battery pack is over 328 miles (500 km), 435 miles (700 km) for the 100-kWh battery pack, and with the newly-introduced 150-kWh battery pack, that increases to upwards of 621 miles (1,000 km). The vehicle is rated at 644 hp ( 653 PS / 480 kW) and 627 lb-ft (850Nm) of torque, and it accelerates from 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) in 3.9 seconds.

Watch: NIO EP9 Plays Camera Car To Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Vs. Koenigsegg Agera R Race, Outsprints Both
Founder William Li says the ET7 sedan can work with the company’s new autonomous driving system (available as a subscription for around $105 per month) that features a camera resolution of 8 megapixels—compared to Tesla’s 1.2 megapixels—and Nvidia processing chips that allegedly offer 7 times greater processing power greater than that of Tesla’s full self-driving computers. Li also noted the ET7 will be fitted with lidar sensors to allow the car to better perceive its surroundings. This same technology was previously dismissed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The lidar sensor features a 1550 nanometer laser, a 120-degree field of view, and a range of up to 500 meters. The system can dynamically focus on objects of interest, allowing for the accurate detection of objects with millimetric precision. Finally, as part of the car’s 33 total sensing units, it also contains a 5mm wave radar, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and 2 high-precision positioning units.

NIO is also working on systems to enable the fastest battery swap service in the world, called Power Swap Station 2.0, allowing for a fully-automated swap in less 3 minutes. During this process, battery and system checks are also performed. The battery swap stations would also only take up a footprint of around 3 parking spaces, so as not to be too intrusive to the surrounding areas.

Each station can accommodate 13 batteries, and would be able to perform up to 312 swaps per day. Additionally, NIO’s vehicles will be able to automatically park themselves in the station, and the company expects its total number of deployed 2.0 stations to reach 500 by the end 2021.

Deliveries for the ET7 are set to begin in China the first quarter of 2022, and pre-orders are currently open for a price of around $772.

The car’s unveiling took place at the company’s annual Nio Day, and it’s revealed around the 2 hour and 3 minute mark in the video above with the specs mentioned right before.

martinbo · Jan 10, 2021

Featuring its signature voice-activated command: ET phone home.

Deleted member 1071 · Jan 10, 2021

I must say that I very much prefer the "less upright" concept. The eyesore roof mounted LIDAR cowling (similar to that seen on the Polestar Precept concept) makes it look a bit like a London taxicab. Hopefully, this is an element that can be far more elegantly veiled on future automobiles. The tech appears immensely impressing though.

Centurion · Jan 10, 2021

Headlights are too thin but the side profile is lovely.

I'm stunned by the price of the batteries.

For the price of the car and batteries, you could buy two long range Model 3.

One thing I adore most about Nio is their charging vans. I hope similar vans will emerge in Europe.

MrRapp · Jan 10, 2021

So much for sustainability to have an ICE Van appearing in your street to charge your BEV

BTW read that their 150kW battery will be solid state which is downright impressive. Will be produced by CATL so hopefully other brands will follow.

klier · Jan 10, 2021

NIO makes electric scooters too, and they are everywhere in my city, and you can grab them whenever you want, and leave them wherever you want, as long as you're a member of this service where you only pay for the use, via your phone. They constantly drive around in little vans filled with batteries and they swap the batteries of the ones which are almost empty.

Anyways....here's the next electric car, LOL. The OEMS might not even make it this century, all to be replaced by new electric brands if they're not very careful.

Edit;

Niu I meant. Probably something else from NIO. Oh well....this is the Niu electric scooter everyone uses here:

tristatez28lt1 · Jan 10, 2021

tristatez28lt1 · Jan 10, 2021

Solid launch with good tech on paper although the concept looked a lot better. I liked the concept. This is pretty bland. My only hopes are now only that Polestar and/or IONIQ to present a great looking sedan. ET7 Pricing is good for China.

DjordjeC63 · Feb 13, 2021

wL0316 · Feb 14, 2021

I wished the Lidar could be integrated better, maybe it can be disguised as a power dome?

Deleted member 1071 · Feb 14, 2021

DjordjeC63 said:
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Save the poorly-integrated LIDAR cowl, a solid piece of clean, unpretentious automotive design. It looks very HQ as well.

SCOTT27 · Feb 14, 2021

It's like the automotive equivalent of a flat earth society who boast of having many members across the globe.

Centurion · Feb 14, 2021

Jimmy said:
Save the poorly-integrated LIDAR cowl, a solid piece of clean, unpretentious automotive design. It looks very HQ as well.

It is lovely and a big shame that Chinese EVs won't be accepted by the West because of spy concerns.

DjordjeC63 · Apr 16, 2021

First NIO ET7 Body Rolls Off Production Line

Sales of the ET7 will start within about 12 months.
NIO has shown the first ET7 body-in-white (BIW) that has rolled off the production line on April 1, 2021, at the JAC-NIO Hefei Advanced Manufacturing Center in China.
The ET7 is an all-new flagship sedan (actually the first sedan from NIO, after three SUVs: ES8, ES6, and EC6), unveiled in January of this year, and scheduled for market launch in the first quarter of 2022.

"The long-awaited ET7 carries over the essence of NIO's technology and further improves the manufacturing techniques, efficiency, and vehicle mass without compromising its performance. ET7 BIW is a vivid embodiment of high performance, safety, and economy."
"During the on-site review, the quality of this BIW was praised by many as beyond expectations. This product wouldn't have come true without the joint efforts of all cross-function teams. While the EV competition is getting fierce, we look forward that ET7 can become another great NIO success."

It will be very interesting to see the ET7 on the market as it might be a very strong competitor to the European and North American BEVs.

Moreover, NIO announced that besides the 70 kWh and 100 kWh battery options, there will be a next-generation 150 kWh battery option available, around late 2022, consisting of ultra-high energy density solid-state cells.

The range of the top-of-the-line version would be more than 1,000 km (620 miles) of NEDC range, which in the real world could turn out to be close to what the all-new Mercedes-Benz EQS will offer (up to 770 km/479 Miles WLTP).

NIO ET7 specs:

70 kWh battery - more than 500 km (311 miles) of NEDC range
100 kWh battery - more than 700 km (435 miles) of NEDC range
150 kWh battery option in the future will get more than 1,000 km (620 miles) of NEDC range
0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.9 seconds
dual motor all-wheel drive
system output of 480 kW and 850 Nm of torque
front motor (permanent magnet): 180 kW
rear motor (induction motor): 300 kW
NIO 2nd generation powertrain with SiC power electronics
100-0 km/h braking in 33.5 m, with Brembo brakes (standard)
Cd of 0.23
Dimensions: Length 5.098 m, Width 1.987 m, Height 1.505 m and Wheelbase of 3.060 m

DjordjeC63 · Apr 16, 2021

NIO Celebrates Production Of 100,000th Electric Car

By: Mark Kane

The average price exceeded RMB 428,000 (over $65,400).
NIO has produced today (April 7, 2021) its 100,000th electric car at the JAC-NIO Hefei Advanced Manufacturing Centre in China.
Reaching this major milestone took less than three years - 1,046 days, since the first NIO ES8 rolled off the line on May 27, 2018. Really not bad for a startup, that in its journey went through a cash crisis and general COVID-19 situation.
Besides the ES8, the company is producing at the JAC-NIO site also the ES6 and EC6 models.

"At the roll-off ceremony, representatives of the early ES8, ES6 and EC6 users joined together to welcome the user of the 100,000th NIO car to the NIO community.
With the 100,000th production car, NIO reached another significant milestone. Moving forward, NIO will continue to build on its global-leading innovation capabilities, launch more cutting-edge smart electric vehicles and technologies, and offer users an experience that exceeds expectations."

An interesting thing is that - according to NIO - the average price of those 100,000 cars was RMB 428,000 (over $65,400). That's quite a lot, especially in China, but NIO is positioning itself as a premium brand.
The company is currently increasing its electric car sales and tries to continue production during the time of semiconductor shortage, as well as work on its fourth NIO ET7 model.

The next big step for NIO probably could be the market launch of its cars in Europe and North America, but as long as the demand in China is high enough to grow, there is no rush, we guess.
Gallery: 100,000th NIO Car Rolls Off The Production Line

6 Photos

For those who would like to compare NIO with Tesla, Tesla is currently at over 1.5 million cars sold globally (starting in 2008), including more than 150,000 Made-in-China cars. However, Tesla is a much older company, in a much different state, so it can't be really compared directly.

DjordjeC63 · Apr 16, 2021

NIO Launches First Power Swap Station 2.0: See Video How It Works

By: Mark Kane

The company entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Sinopec.
NIO has officially inaugurated today (April 15, 2021) the first second-generation battery swap station, called Power Swap Station 2.0, which was announced in January.
This new station, deployed at Sinopec's Chaoying Station in Beijing, was unveiled together with Sinopec - NIO's new strategic partner in areas related to charging and swapping network development, as well as new materials, smart EV tech, Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS), vehicle purchasing, and recreational facility construction.
Sinopec Group is the largest oil and petrochemical product supplier and the second-largest oil and gas producer in China. Its engagement with NIO and plans to deploy 5,000 battery charging and swapping stations "over the next few years", tells us a lot where the world is going.

"The partnership between Sinopec and NIO is an important milestone for further developing China's smart EV industry, a concrete measure to help achieve peak carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, a key step in developing global, green, and innovative transportation initiatives and innovations."

power-swap-station-2.0-starts-operation-in-beijing.jpg

Power Swap Station 2.0
The second-generation battery swap stations are equipped with 14 battery slots - 13 battery packs and an empty slot, to pick up a discharged battery (or old/previous generation battery when upgrading).
According to NIO, they are capable of completing up to 312 battery swaps per day (24 hours), which would mean 4.6 minutes or close to 277 seconds per swap (including parking).

The parking inside the station is, by the way, fully autonomous once the driver confirms the battery swap by pushing a button.

"As a smart battery swap system enabled by software-defined cloud computing, NIO Power Swap Station 2.0 is the world's first mass-produced battery swap station that allows the vehicle to maneuver into the station automatically. Each NIO Power Swap Station 2.0 has 239 sensors and four collaborating cloud computing systems that maximize the application of visual recognition technologies.
Enabled by the technology, users can complete a self-service battery swap with only one click while staying in the car. The system is capable of completing up to 312 battery swaps per day, significantly improving swapping efficiency."

As we can see below, the entire operation takes just a few minutes. The station lifts the entire car a little bit, and swaps the discharged battery for a freshly charged one.

Time will tell whether the battery swap stations are the right way to go, at least to jump-start the EV sales.
For NIO, this system has also one specific non-technical advantage in China. All the models with battery swapping are eligible for full EV subsidy without a price cap, which normally would eliminate NIO from subsidies.
In recent months, we heard about multiple other brands that are also launching battery swap systems in China.
Gallery: NIO Battery Swap Stations