Chinese Company Launches EV to Compete with Model X at Half the Price

DooKey

DooKey

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Chinese company Nio launched their new EV (WARNING auto play video) this weekend and aim to compete against the Tesla Model X in their market. The ES8 starts at half the price of the Model X and might put a dent in Tesla sales in China. Also, they have a unique subscription that you pay per month that lets a customer pull into a station and have their battery pack replaced in 3 minutes with a fully charged pack. However, it's only for the rich because that subcription costs about $19K per month according to CNBC. Interesting idea, but that price is bonkers. We'll see over the next months how this is selling and whether or not Tesla tries to compete on price.

A seven-seat electric vehicle, the ES8 is made to order, customizable and equipped with an artificial intelligence system. The car will be able to accelerate to 100 km per hour (62 miles per hour) in 4.4 seconds. Orders can be placed through an app.
 
I could only afford a used Prius with depleted batteries. I'll stick to petrol for now.
 
lironmiron said:
Sitting on a giant Chinese-made lithium battery is the definition of terrifying.
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Given a huge amount of said batteries are made in China, no matter what the end application or brand they end up having stamped on them, I predict you'll be sitting in a dark room gibbering to yourself and rocking back and forth once electric cars become ubiquitous. :)
 
You know the Tesla model S was doing the battery swap thing long before this copycat. They've literally demonstrated it multiple times on video!
 
EODetroit said:
This car will be faster when towed by a Model X than it is on its own.
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I don’t think the average consumer cares that their 7 passenger car accelerated in 4.4 seconds to 60 mph instead of 3.x seconds.
 
I want to be excited...but well history has brought this to us from the far east....
hoverboards-are-setting-homes-on-fire.jpg
 
focbde said:
Given a huge amount of said batteries are made in China, no matter what the end application or brand they end up having stamped on them, I predict you'll be sitting in a dark room gibbering to yourself and rocking back and forth once electric cars become ubiquitous. :)
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Yep! Bet there are still many people that don't realize Iphones and their batteries are made in China too! It's not so much as to where the products are being made, but more so the source of it and their quality control.
 
That subscription is where they will make up for the low price. I'm guessing that the supplied charger is very slow, and that a fast charger is not cheap. There probably are not a lot of charging stations around either, so the subscription option will almost be mandatory for people that want to buy this car.
 
. Also, they have a unique subscription that you pay per month that lets a customer pull into a station and have their battery pack replaced in 3 minutes with a fully charged pack
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Unique subscription, yes. Unique tech, no. They likely reverse engineered a Tesla for it, as I'm sure it still exists in some form.

It's hard to compete with Chinese companies because they have government backing and don't give a damn about IP laws. That's how you get a Tesla for half the price. You spend nothing in R&D because you blatantly copy it. Same thing the Soviets used to do (even copying the repairs and design flaws).

I understand companies want to go to the new frontier of China to capture that massive billion person market, but they seem to fail to realize the government there is not their friend. And any product that gets traction will be replaced in short order by a local company. So you're essentially wasting tons of money to build out infrastructure in a country for maybe a year's worth of lead time. Your only saving grace is if the copy is not well received by the people that can afford it and they want the authentic thing.
 
People also fail to realize there are 2 Chinese parts. Those that are sold to the world and those that are sold the China. You can guess which on is the better quality ones.

*I don't really have anything to back this up first hand but I've heard from two people who have dealt with production in China for the US say that they can't not use parts from those lines for anything destined for China. They need to be made a different line that is for China.
 
focbde said:
Given a huge amount of said batteries are made in China, no matter what the end application or brand they end up having stamped on them, I predict you'll be sitting in a dark room gibbering to yourself and rocking back and forth once electric cars become ubiquitous. :)
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Yeah, but Chinese standards and tolerances are... not nearly as tight. I know a ton of engineers who worked for companies that made things in China, only to have the Chinese factory managers either skimp out on or substitute cheaper parts/processes, or even come to them and say, "hey, give us the full schematics and we'll build it for cheaper and you can go home." (If you say no, eventually, they shut you down for some technicality, and then reopen a company without out you.)

Edit: TL;DR: at least with American companies involved you get more oversight.
 
pSiCLOneAL said:
Actually, most batteries used here aren't Chinese made.
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Source? If you open up a laptop these days and look at the battery, a huge amount are made in China.
Ditto for many other other consumer goods. Panasonic-Sanyo are probably the biggest manufacturer at the moment and they've been slowly shifting production to China over the past years. Previously made in Japan (the cells at least), yes, but that's changing.
 
If you truly think China's safety standards are up to par, just peruse liveleak.com. Of particular infamy are their escalators which love the taste of human flesh.
 
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