NIO's Sub-brand ONVO Launched: Can Battery-Swap Stations Help Compete with Tesla?

On May 15, the brand launch event of ONVO, the intelligent electric vehicle brand under the Chinese automotive brand Nio, was held in Shanghai, China. The event unveiled the first model of ONVO, the L60, which is positioned as an intelligent electric medium-sized family SUV. The L60 is currently available for pre-order, with a starting price of 219,900 RMB, and expected delivery will begin in Q3 of 2024.

According to the official introduction, the brand name ONVO comes from "On Voyage", which can be translated into Chinese as "Road to Happiness", meaning "every road travelled with family is happy". It's worth mentioning that the brand's launch date, May 15, is also International Family Day as designated by the United Nations.

ONVO's joining is expected to make up for NIO's shortage in the market below 300,000 RMB. From delivering its first car in 2018 up to now, NIO has had insufficient coverage for models in the market below 300,000 RMB, with the lowest priced NIO model currently priced at 298,000 RMB. Before the brand launch, it was announced that ONVO would compete in the same market segment as the Tesla Model Y and would compete with it.

Charging stations and battery swap stations for electric vehicles are equivalent to petrol stations for petrol cars, which affects vehicle endurance and convenience, and can serve as a major selling point for brands to attract consumers. ONVO will share NIO Power's "chargeable, replaceable, and upgradeable" all-scenario energy service system. Users can enjoy a battery swap network consisting of over a thousand battery swap stations as soon as they pickup their car. The president of ONVO stated, "ONVO was born with over 1,000 battery swap stations, more than 25,000 proprietary charging piles, and more than 1,000,000 third-party charging piles".

Tesla also attaches great importance to the construction of charging stations, whether the charging station network can become a winning factor for ONVO in its niche market still needs to be tested over time. Tesla has built more than 55,000 supercharging piles worldwide, operating one of the largest global fast charging networks in the world. As of March 2024, Tesla has deployed more than 1,900 supercharging stations and over 700 destination charging stations in China, covering 100% of all provincial capital cities and municipalities in China.