NIO Inc. (NIO) designs, develops, manufactures, and sells smart electric vehicles in China, Europe, and internationally.
The company distinguishes itself through continuous technological breakthroughs and innovations, exceptional products and services, and a community for shared growth.
Vehicles
The company designs, develops, manufactures and sells its premium smart electric vehicles under the NIO brand, family-oriented smart electric vehicles through the ONVO brand, and small smart high-end...
NIO Inc. (NIO) designs, develops, manufactures, and sells smart electric vehicles in China, Europe, and internationally.
The company distinguishes itself through continuous technological breakthroughs and innovations, exceptional products and services, and a community for shared growth.
Vehicles
The company designs, develops, manufactures and sells its premium smart electric vehicles under the NIO brand, family-oriented smart electric vehicles through the ONVO brand, and small smart high-end electric cars with the FIREFLY brand. The company offers its products and services in China, Europe, and other markets; and is planning to expand into more global markets to capture the fast-growing EV demand.
Under the NIO brand, the company introduced the EP9 supercar in 2016, which was the then fastest electric vehicle, setting the Nurburgring Nordschleife all-electric vehicle lap record. Starting from December 2017, the company launched and continually iterated on a succession of well-positioned vehicle models and established a competitive product portfolio, including the ES8 (or the EL8), a six-seater smart electric flagship SUV, the ES7 (or the EL7), a mid-large five-seater smart electric SUV, the ES6 (or the EL6), a five-seater all-round smart electric SUV, the EC7, a five-seater smart electric flagship coupe SUV, the EC6, a five-seater smart electric coupe SUV, the ET9, a smart electric executive flagship, the ET7, a smart electric executive sedan, the ET5, a mid-size smart electric sedan, and the ET5T, a smart electric tourer.
In 2024, the company completed a comprehensive upgrade across its entire product portfolio, delivering an enhanced intelligent cockpit experience. With exquisite design, high performance, superior comfort, and advanced digital systems, the company’s product portfolio accurately caters to the diverse needs of users for family, business, and leisure travels. In December 2024, at NIO Day 2024, the company officially launched the NIO ET9, a smart electric executive flagship. The ET9 integrates NIO’s full-stack technological capabilities across 12 areas, offering flagship experiences to users in design, space, comfort, audio, intelligent systems, assisted and intelligent driving, safety, powertrain, and overall driving and riding performance.
Inheriting the company’s high-performance DNA marked by dual-motor intelligent All-Wheel-Drive system, all NIO models are able to achieve outstanding performances in 0-100 km/h and braking distance. Enabled by battery swapping technology, all the company’s models are compatible with different battery packs, including standard range battery, long range battery and ultra-long-range battery, supporting different driving ranges and providing an upgradable and flexible user experience.
ONVO, the company’s family-oriented smart electric vehicle brand launched in May 2024, stands for ‘On Voyage,’ and carries the implied meaning of ‘Happiness on Every Path We Travel with Family’ in Chinese, embodies ONVO’s commitment to creating better family life and bringing better brand and product experiences to family users.
Firefly, the company’s small, smart, high-end electric car brand, was launched in December 2024. In 2024, the company delivered various vehicles, from its premium smart electric vehicle brand NIO, and various vehicles from the company’s family-oriented smart electric vehicle brand ONVO.
Key Technological Breakthroughs and Innovations
The company has remained committed to innovation and dedicated to investing in research and development of core technologies. The company’s technological breakthroughs and innovations differentiate it from its peers, creating better user experiences and enhancing its users’ confidence in the company. The company has strategically focused on building in-house capabilities, including battery swapping, assisted and intelligent driving, digital technologies, electric powertrain and battery, vehicle engineering and design, among others, to control the design and development of the vehicle software and hardware architecture and the critical components that go into its products. The company’s capabilities have given it greater flexibility to continually improve the company’s products and launch new products. By integrating these industry-leading technologies, all the company’s vehicles are designed to provide its users with a relaxing, interactive, intelligent and immersive experience.
The company has strategically located its research and development offices in locations where gives the company access to the best talent. The company’s global research and development center for production models is located in Shanghai. The company’s advanced vehicle manufacturing center is located in Anhui. The company’s global research and development center for software is located in Beijing. The company’s global research and development center for autonomous driving is located in San Jose. The company’s global design center is located in Munich. The company’s global research and development center for advanced engineering is located in Oxford.
Battery Swapping and BaaS
All of the company’s smart electric vehicles are equipped with proprietary battery swapping technologies, providing its users with a ‘chargeable, swappable, upgradable’ experience. The company also offers Battery as a Service, or BaaS, an industry-first innovative model which allows users to purchase electric vehicles and subscribe for the usage of batteries separately. BaaS enables the company’s users to benefit from lower vehicle purchase prices, flexible battery upgrade options and assurance of battery performance.
Battery Swapping: Supported by over 1,670 patented technologies as of December 31, 2024, all the company’s vehicles support battery swapping. It provides its users with convenient ‘recharging’ experiences by simply swapping the user’s battery for another one within minutes. Moreover, it enables users to enjoy the benefits of battery technology advancements with upgrade options. Additionally, during each battery swap, a comprehensive health assessment on the battery and electric drive system is performed to ensure optimal condition of the vehicle. Equipped with Lidars and NVIDIA DRIVE Orin X chips, the company’s Power Swap Station 4.0 can conduct fully automatic swaps up to 480 times per day and support intelligent vehicle-station connectivity in complex environments.
BaaS: Enabled by vehicle-battery separation technology and battery subscription model, BaaS decouples the battery price from the purchase price of a vehicle and allows users to subscribe for battery usage separately. For each user under the BaaS model, the company sells a battery to the Battery Asset Company, and the user subscribes for the usage of the battery from the Battery Asset Company. If the company’s users opt to purchase a vehicle and subscribe for the battery under BaaS, they can enjoy a deduction off the original vehicle purchase price while paying a monthly subscription fee for the battery. The company’s users are able to enjoy permanent or flexible upgrades to batteries with higher capacities or other future battery options with an additional fee as the battery technologies evolve.
Assisted and Intelligent Driving and Subscription
Assisted and intelligent driving is the core of smart electric vehicles, and it has been the company’s focus from day one. The company is one of the first companies in China to offer enhanced ADAS capabilities and the company has been dedicated to developing its proprietary full stack assisted and intelligent driving capabilities.
The company offers NIO assisted and intelligent driving, or NAD, its full stack in-house developed assisted and intelligent driving capabilities, to NIO brand users. NAD is equipped with the company’s proprietary perception algorithms, localization, control strategy and platform software. The technology consists of NIO Adam, a super computing platform with outstanding computing power, and NIO Aquila, a super sensing system equipped with high-performance sensors including LiDAR. With the gradual release of certain features of the NAD through NOP+, the company’s generalization capability and collective intelligence capability has seen rapid growth. NOP+ has been made available for expressways, urban areas, parking and battery swapping, delivering a safer and more relaxing assisted and intelligent driving experience for the company’s users. The company’s NOP+ is available for user subscription.
The company continually processes fast iteration on its assisted and intelligent driving system capabilities. At NIO IN 2024, the company unveiled the NIO WorldModel (NWM), its multivariable autoregressive generative model, and introduced the NADArch2.0, a brand-new architecture for the company’s assisted and intelligent driving technology. NADArch2.0 is an industry-leading end-to-end architecture empowered by the NWM and will offer a more relaxed and safer assisted and intelligent driving experience for the company’s users.
The company offers ONVO Smart Driving, or OSD, to ONVO brand users. OSD is built upon the company’s full stack assisted and intelligent driving capabilities.
In addition, the company has commenced its in-house research and development of the intelligent driving chipset to maximize the assisted and intelligent driving algorithm efficiency.
Digital Technologies
Digital System
Digital system is the foundation for the company to achieve continuous upgrades through over-the-air updates, the digital platform for building its own proprietary software and algorithms and the security system for deep reassurance.
On top of the company’s proprietary software architecture and cloud data platform, SkyOS, its full-domain vehicle operating system, has the industry-leading connectivity and remote service capabilities with an end-to-end security framework. By seamlessly integrating and efficiently collaborating all vehicle domains, including assisted and intelligent driving, digital cockpit, and vehicle control, SkyOS provides a secure, intelligent and smooth driving experience to users.
Digital Cockpit
The company’s digital cockpit has an AI-driven, scalable and flexible architecture that presents users with an intelligent and immersive digital experience. The company has built flexibility into the digital cockpit, so that it can continue to update the cockpit’s operating system with new features and applications.
Inspired by the concept of creating a mobile living space, providing a caring emotion companion while connecting products, services and community, the company has launched the N-Box Enhanced Infotainment Console and the AR display system, bringing immersive experiences and a realistic sense of space to its users. Inside the company’s digital cockpit, its in-car AI companions, can listen to, communicate and interact with users, while also supporting multimodal large vision models to foster a strong emotional connection between vehicles and users.
Electric Powertrain and Battery
Electric Powertrain
Starting from the company’s first product, it has designed, developed and manufactured its own proprietary electric powertrains in-house. The company possesses in-house research and development capabilities across motors, electric controls, reducers, and high voltage charging and distribution systems.
The company’s electric powertrains are designed specifically for its vehicles, and through firmware over-the-air, the company is able to continue to improve and update and adjust according to its users’ driving behavior. Enabled by in-house research and development capabilities, the company’s motor configuration offers a variety of electric motors. The company is in the process of developing its next generation electric powertrains based on the high-voltage architecture.
Battery
The company is committed to the research, development and innovations in battery technologies and has built up the research and development capabilities throughout the lifecycle of uni-pack battery. The company’s batteries are based on advanced battery pack design, battery management system and proprietary swapping mechanism.
The company offers standard range battery, long range battery and ultra-long-range battery. In addition, the company provides flexible battery upgrade plan to maximize battery utilization efficiency, allowing users to flexibly select battery options or upgrade battery range based on their individual driving needs. The company is also collaborating with its partners in developing long-life batteries.
Vehicle Engineering and Design Capabilities
The company has significant in-house vehicle engineering and design capabilities, covering all major areas of vehicle development starting from inception to completion, with a particular emphasis on software-driven technologies and fast iteration. In addition, the company’s innovation in core components allows for the efficient development of multiple brands and models. For example, the company in-house developed intelligent chassis controller enables integrated control of redundant braking, air spring and damper, while achieving functional safety, cyber security and OTA updates. Moreover, the company has implemented its ‘Skyride’ intelligent chassis system, which integrates core hardware components of steer-by-wire, rear-wheel steering, and fully active suspension.
The company’s global design team has comprehensive design capabilities across the board, from brands, vehicles, user interface/user experience, lifestyle products to accessories.
User Development and User Community
The company reaches out to and engages with its users directly through the company’s own offline and online platforms, to continuously expand its user community.
Physical Stores
NIO Houses and NIO Spaces serve as NIO’s offline channels for the company to reach out to and serve its users, as well as the offline platforms for the NIO user community.
NIO Houses has showroom functions while serving as a clubhouse for the company’s users and their friends. NIO Spaces are mainly showrooms for the company’s brand, vehicles and services. As of December 31, 2024, the company had 180 NIO Houses and 433 NIO Spaces in total globally.
ONVO Centers and ONVO Spaces serve as ONVO’s offline channels, designed to showcase products, facilitate sales, and foster engagement within the ONVO user community. As of December 31, 2024, the company had a total of 300 ONVO Centers and ONVO Spaces in China.
Brand Apps
The company’s mobile apps for NIO, ONVO and FIREFLY are all designed to serve as a comprehensive portal, which allows users to not only place orders for and configure vehicles, but also to access vehicle control, power and other services, as well as purchase lifestyle products. Most importantly, the company’s apps function as online platforms for its user community.
Brand Events
The company’s annual NIO Day is an event jointly hosted by it and its users where the company launches its new products and technologies and celebrate the user community. In December 2017 in Beijing, China, the company held its first NIO Day and launched the ES8. The company had since then held multiple NIO Days to launch new products and interact with its users in the subsequent years. Most recently, in December 2024, the company held NIO Day 2024 in Guangzhou, China, with the official launch of the ET9. In addition, during the event, firefly, the company’s small smart high-end electric car brand, was officially launched.
In May 2024, the company hosted the debut event for its ONVO brand, introducing the company’s family-oriented smart electric vehicle brand, ONVO, as well as its first vehicle model, the L60, a smart electric mid-size family SUV.
Lifestyle Products
The company has established its lifestyle brands for NIO, ONVO and FIREFLY. The company operates online stores within its apps where users can purchase a variety of lifestyle products. The product categories include clothing and accessories, home and living, consumer electronics, food and beverages.
User Points
The company provides users with points to encourage user engagement and positive user behavior, such as to keep a safe driving record. Points are earned, among other things, through the welcome packages upon the purchase of vehicles, referrals for test drives and vehicle purchases, and active engagement in the user community.
NIO Users Trust
The company’s users have the opportunity to discuss and propose the use of the economic benefits from the shares in NIO Users Trust through a User Council consisting of members of its user community elected by the company’s users. The User Council helps coordinate user activities in its community. According to the articles of association of NIO Users Trust, incomes and proceeds derived from the trust assets shall be mainly used for the following purposes include environmental protection and sustainable development, NIO Users community care projects, community activities promoting common growth of users and other necessary projects, and operational expenses of the Users Trust.
Power Solutions
The company offers a comprehensive and innovative suite of power solutions to address the charging and swapping needs of its users. The company’s power solutions include home chargers called Power Home, battery swapping called Power Swap, supercharging piles called Power Charger, destination charging piles called Destination Charger, and mobile charging called Power Mobile. All those solutions are integrated with Power Cloud, a cloud-based system that synchronizes users’ power consumption information with the company’s power network. Power Cloud intelligently recommends appropriate services based on users’ locations and power consumption patterns. The company’s users can not only check the availability of charging and swapping resources within NIO’s own network, but also access real-time information on a wide range of public chargers through the Power Map feature on its apps. In addition, the company offers One Click for Power valet service, where it picks up, charges and returns the vehicle.
Power Home
Through Power Home, the company installs home chargers at its users’ residences upon request if the installation is feasible. The company offers both standard and high-speed home chargers to meet different charging needs.
Power Swap
All the company’s vehicles support battery swapping. Once a vehicle is parked at a Power Swap Station and the swap function is activated, the battery is automatically replaced within minutes. Automatic battery and electric system assessments are performed during each swap to enhance safety and reliability.
Equipped with Lidars and NVIDIA DRIVE Orin X chips, the company’s Power Swap Station 4.0 can conduct fully automatic swaps up to 480 times per day and support intelligent vehicle-station connectivity in complex environments.
As of December 31, 2024, the company had 3,054 Power Swap Stations covering urban areas and expressways globally, through which it had completed over 61 million battery swaps cumulatively. The company has opened the company’s Power Swap network to the entire industry and signed strategic partnership agreements with Changan Automobile, Geely Group, Chery Automobile, JAC Group, Lotus, GAC Group and FAW Group on battery charging and swapping.
On August 20, 2024, the company announced the ‘Power Up Counties’ plan to strengthen its charging and swapping network across all county-level administrative divisions in China. This initiative aims to provide a more convenient, efficient and comprehensive charging experience for the company’s users. The company has been collaborating with partners across transportation, energy and other sectors to jointly develop charging and swapping infrastructure.
Power Charger and Destination Charger
Through Power Charger, the company’s supercharging piles, it provides its users a fast and reliable power solution. Users are able to locate, use and pay for charging services via the company’s apps. The company’s Power Chargers feature a slim design and are strategically placed in parking lots and other accessible locations. The company offers Power Chargers with charging capacities of up to 640kW.
The company also deploys Destination Chargers at key locations such as tourist attractions, shopping malls and office buildings to provide greater convenience and flexibility for users.
As of December 31, 2024, the company had 25,097 Power Chargers and Destination Chargers in operation.
Power Mobile
Through Power Mobile, the company provides on-demand charging services through fast charging vans equipped with its proprietary fast-charging technology. This service supplements the company’s battery swapping and charging network, providing users with additional charging flexibility. Users are able to book Power Mobile services in advance through the company’s apps.
Power Map
In addition to the company’s own swapping and charging network, its users have access to a network of public chargers with real-time availability updates via Power Map in the company’s apps, which consisted of over 1,770,000 publicly accessible charging piles globally as of December 31, 2024. To further improve the user experience, the company has been working to increase the number of public chargers synchronized with Power Cloud.
One Click for Power
The company’s One Click for Power valet service offers users a seamless charging experience. Through the company’s apps, users can request its team to pick up their vehicle from a designated location for valet charging, battery swapping or Power Mobile service. Power Cloud utilizes smart scheduling to identify the most suitable power solution based on the user’s driving habits, ensuring maximum convenience.
Service and Warranty
The company’s users can access a full suite of innovative services through its apps, as part of the company’s strategy of redefining the user experience. The company provides an integrated service ecosystem that delivers a holistic, end-to-end service experience. The company’s service capability is among the core competitiveness it possesses.
Service
Service Network
The company provides servicing through both company-owned and authorized third-party service centers, offering repair, maintenance and bodywork services. As of December 31, 2024, the company had 383 service centers worldwide.
The company also provides high-quality delivery services through delivery centers, which serve as vital hubs in the user experience journey. At these centers, the company offers users comprehensive support, including vehicle transportation and delivery, pre-delivery inspections, guidance on vehicle features, assistance with vehicle registration and insurance processing.
Service Plan
The company offers service plans on an annual fee basis in certain regions. The service plans offer a combination of insurance and a range of service options. The insurance offered in the plan covers statutory third-party liability and vehicle damage insurance, which are provided through third-party insurers. The company’s service offerings include vehicle repair and maintenance services, courtesy vehicles, and enhanced data packages, among other services.
Users are able to arrange for vehicle services through the company’s apps. The company also offers repair and maintenance services at users’ doorsteps for added convenience.
Auto Financing
The company has agreements with several commercial banks in China to assist users in acquiring financing for vehicle purchases. The company also offers auto financing arrangements to users directly through its subsidiaries.
Used Vehicle Service
The company has partnered with various used car dealers through its apps to assist users in completing used car transactions efficiently and conveniently.
Warranty Policy
The company offers comprehensive warranty policies covering the entire vehicle, as well as key electric components, including the battery, electric motor, and power electronic units. In addition to the standard warranty required by local laws and regulations, the company also provides extended warranty services, with specific terms and conditions varying by markets and vehicle models.
Manufacturing
Vehicle Manufacturing
The company manufactures its vehicles at the F1 and F2 Plants in Anhui, China. Its production capacity expansion strategy is aligned with its product pipeline development and sales projections. In line with this strategic planning, the company’s new F3 Plant in Anhui Province is expected to commence operations in the third quarter of 2025.
In the past, the company partnered with Jianghuai Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (JAC) for the joint manufacturing of its vehicles at the F1 and F2 Plants. In December 2023, the company entered into definitive agreements with JAC to acquire the manufacturing equipment and assets of both plants. The asset transfer was completed in the same month. In addition, the company has completed the filing process for its electric passenger vehicle investment project with the relevant authorities in Anhui province and has been included in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s catalogue of approved manufacturers. The company’s manufacturing model has transitioned from joint manufacturing to independent manufacturing.
Other Manufacturing
The company has established its manufacturing facilities in China to produce electric powertrains and other vehicle parts, with highly automated production lines, advanced manufacturing execution systems and automated guided vehicles. The company also manufactures Power Swap Stations and charging piles independently, as well as in collaboration with its partners.
Certain Other Cooperation Arrangements
NIO China Strategic Investors
On April 29, 2020, the company entered into an investment agreement, or the initial investment agreement, and a shareholders agreement, or the initial shareholders agreement (collectively, the initial agreements), for investments into NIO Holding Co., Ltd. (previously known as NIO (Anhui) Holding Co., Ltd.), or NIO China, a legal entity that the company wholly owned pre-investment, with Hefei City Construction and Investment Holding (Group) Co., Ltd., CS Capital Co., Ltd. (also known as CMG-SDIC Capital Co., Ltd.) and Anhui High-tech Co.
Accordingly, on June 5, 2020, the company entered into respective supplemental agreements I to the initial agreements with the investors and their respective designated funds, Jianheng New Energy Fund, Advanced Manufacturing Industry Investment Fund and New Energy Automobile Fund. Under the supplemental agreements I, (i) Hefei City Construction and Investment Holding (Group) Co., Ltd. designated Jianheng New Energy Fund to assume all of its rights and obligations under the initial agreements, (ii) CS Capital Co., Ltd. designated Advanced Manufacturing Industry Investment Fund to assume all of its rights and obligations under the initial agreements, (iii) Anhui High-tech Co. designated New Energy Automobile Fund to perform a portion of its investment obligations under the investment agreement and assume the corresponding rights and obligations under the initial agreements, and (iv) Anhui High-tech Co. will continue to perform the remaining of its investment and other obligations not assigned to New Energy Automobile Fund and enjoy its rights under the initial agreements. On June 18, 2020, the company entered into respective supplemental agreements II with the parties to the supplemental agreements I and Anhui Sanzhong Yichuang, another designated fund of Anhui High-tech Co. Under the supplemental agreements II, Anhui High-tech Co. designated Anhui Sanzhong Yichuang to assume its remaining rights and obligations under the initial agreements that had not been assigned to New Energy Automobile Fund pursuant to the supplemental agreements I.
On March 30, 2024, the company entered into the 2024 Hefei Shareholders Agreement with Jianheng New Energy Fund, Advanced Manufacturing Industry Investment Fund, New Energy Automobile Fund and Anhui Sanzhong Yichuang. The 2024 Hefei Shareholders Agreement amended certain shareholders’ rights in NIO China and superseded the Previous Hefei Shareholders Agreement.
In September 2024, the company entered into definitive agreements for investment in NIO China with the Initial NIO China Series B Strategic Investors.
Battery Asset Company
In August 2020, the company and the Battery Asset Company Investors jointly established the Battery Asset Company. The company and the Initial BaaS Investors each invested RMB200 million and held 25% equity interests in the Battery Asset Company at its establishment. In December 2020, April 2021, August 2021 and July 2022, respectively, the Battery Asset Company entered into agreements with new and existing investors for additional financing. As of December 31, 2024, the company owned approximately 19.4% of the equity interests in the Battery Asset Company.
Business Collaboration with Forseven
On February 26, 2024, the company entered into a technology license agreement, or the Technology License Agreement, with Forseven, a subsidiary of CYVN Holdings L.L.C. Pursuant to the Technology License Agreement, it granted a non-exclusive and non-transferrable worldwide license to Forseven to use certain of the company’s technical information, technical solutions, software and intellectual property rights related to or subsisting in its existing and future smart electric vehicle platforms within certain period, which the company collectively refers to as the Licensed Technologies, for (i) the research and development, manufacturing, offering to sell, sales, import and export of vehicle models sold or marketed under Forseven brand(s) meeting pre-agreed manufacturer’s suggested retail price thresholds (excluding tax) under the Technology License Agreement, which the company collectively refers to as the Licensed Products, and (ii) the provision or procurement of certain after-sales services for the Licensed Products to its users or technical services from the company. The company will also provide Forseven with information and reasonable assistance to the extent necessary for Forseven to utilize the Licensed Technologies in accordance with general industry practices. In addition to the Technology License Agreement, the company also entered into various service agreements to assist Forseven to develop vehicles based on the Technology License Agreement for pre-agreed fees.
Intellectual Property
As of December 31, 2024, the company had 5,693 issued patents and 4,122 pending patent applications, 6,296 registered trademarks and 1,371 pending trademark applications in the United States, China, Europe and other jurisdictions. As of December 31, 2024, the company also held or otherwise had the legal right to use 312 registered copyrights for software or works of art and approximately 869 registered domain names, including www.nio.io.
Research and Development
The company's research and development expenses were RMB13,037.3 million (U.S.$1,786.1 million) in 2024.
Regulation
Before the company’s vehicles can be added to the Announcement of Vehicle Manufacturers and Products, or the Manufacturers and Products Announcement, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, a procedure that is required for its vehicles to be approved for manufacture and sale in China, the company’s vehicles must meet the applicable requirements set forth in laws and regulations. Such laws and regulations include, among others, the Administrative Rules on the Admission of New Energy Vehicle Manufacturers and Products, which took effect on July 1, 2017, and was amended on July 24, 2020, and the Administrative Rules on the Admission of Passenger Vehicles Manufacturer and Products, which took effect on January 1, 2012, and pass the review by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The company’s business is subject to a variety of consumer protection laws, including the PRC Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, as amended in 2013 and took effect on March 15, 2014, which imposes stringent requirements and obligations on business operators.
History
The company was founded in 2014. It was incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands in 2014. The company was formerly known as NextEV Inc. and changed its name to NIO Inc. in 2017.
