3 months ago we wrote about the Chinese car brand NIO, which is shooting up the Chinese sales charts. We then wrote that the brand had no Norwegian representative. Now they have - NIO Norway.
The automobile industry in China has a huge domestic market. So big that Western car manufacturers have established their own factories for the Chinese market, and of course there are many Chinese brands we have barely heard of here at home, which produce cars at high speed to meet domestic demand. China has introduced a "New Energy" program to stimulate the production of zero-emission cars. This has provided good conditions for the development of models that are also interesting for Norway.
Chinese cars at full speed to Norway
For now, it seems that it is Chinese MG, XPeng, BYD and Maxus that have gained a hold on the buyers. The model series DFSK and Seres from Dongeng-Sokon will soon be sold through the Gill/Subaru chain. RøhneSelmer was relevant for a while as a dealer, but seems to have withdrawn. The former luxury car brand Hongqi is in the process of establishing car sales in Norway. NIO is currently the last brand to have a Norwegian representative.
NIO Norway
The company was registered earlier this month (March 2021). The general manager is Marius Hayler who until recently was general manager of BC Norway - importer of Jaguar and Land Rover. Considering the success of the Jaguar I-Pace, it's safe to say that Hayler has succeeded in bringing an electric car outsider high up the sales charts. NIO Norway is currently a newly started small company apparently subject to a European umbrella organisation. But NIO Norway is not without importance. According to press reports, it is Norway that has been designated as NIO's first export market. It is currently uncertain how the company will organize marketing, sales and follow-up.
NIO Norway on Facebook
Leading battery technology
Last year, NIO came out with the model ES6. This year, a larger model, the ES8, has been launched. Both can be delivered with either a 70 kw or 100 kw battery – on par with Tesla's largest battery. NIO has announced that it plans to launch a 150 kw "solid state" battery in Q4 2022 for its new self-driving "Tesla-killer" ET7. Car owners with 70 and 100 kW batteries will be able to upgrade their cars with the new super battery. If this is true, NIO will be one of the very first to offer "solid state" battery technology - and the first electric car manufacturer to make it possible to upgrade battery packs.
Battery change in 3 minutes
Many electric car manufacturers have talked about upgrading battery packs - but so far this has been science fiction. NIO has made it possible to change batteries in a short time. In China there are 145 drive-in stations where NIO owners can change the battery pack in 3 minutes! The service is designed as an alternative to fast charging. Instead of waiting 20-30 minutes to charge, you can drive on with a fully charged battery after 3 minutes. According to NIO's own video, everything happens automatically, but in reality some manual work is required. For example, you may not reverse the car yourself into the exchange station. Admittedly, there is one machine which unscrews the battery, but in the video below you can clearly see a man in the background controlling a lever or similar. The switch itself takes 3 minutes, provided there is no one in front of you in the queue - and provided the station has fully charged batteries available. Each station can only have 14 battery packs inside at the same time. In practice, there can sometimes be long waiting times for this service.
Hardly for Norway
Changing batteries "on the go" is hardly something you should do unless you don't leier battery packs. Who wants to replace the battery pack from their new car to continue driving with the battery pack from a 2 year old taxi? Renault is one of the car manufacturers that has come the furthest in offering battery rental. It is available in the rest of Europe, but not in Norway. We prefer to hey - not rent.
Extended service offer in China
Like Tesla, NIO offers free roadside charging via its own charging network. They can build that up in Norway as well. But one of the offers that is unlikely to be implemented in Norway is a mobile charging service where car owners can order charging via one touch of a button regardless of where they are. Then the electricity is supplied from a van - one electric van of course. Another service is "24/7 On-Call Valet Charging", where someone will pick up the car and return it with a fully charged battery. With the well-developed charging networks we have in Norway, it is difficult to see any need for anything other than self-service charging stations.
It will be interesting to follow the development in NIO. Maybe in two years we can buy premium electric cars with "solid state" battery technology and a range of 1000 km?
Facts
NIO ES6 100 kw
Range converted to WLTP: 480-520 km
Range NEDC: 610 km
544 HK
0-100: 4,7 sec.
NIO ES8 100 kw
Range converted to WLTP: 460-500 km
Range NEDC: 580 km
544 HK
0-100: 4,9 sec.
See
