Li Bin Unveils NIO's Strategy on Lightweighting, Battery Swapping, and Autonomous Driving

Following the launch event of the new Onvo L60, NIO founder William Li and Onvo President Shen Fei held a media interview, addressing topics including product technology strategy, brand positioning, and market competition. Li emphasized that vehicle lightweighting reflects comprehensive R&D capabilities, noting that the Onvo L60’s body-in-white achieves a lightweight coefficient of 2.22. He also highlighted that NIO has deployed over 60 battery swap stations across Europe and is now selling its Firefly model in Singapore. According to Li, battery swapping offers three irreplaceable advantages: resolving the mismatch between vehicle and battery lifespans, serving as a natural energy storage infrastructure, and delivering a convenient refueling-like experience. On intelligent driving, the Onvo L60 is equipped with NIO’s latest world model, offering strong image-processing capabilities. Li revealed that NIO’s self-developed chip, the Shengu NX9031, features twice the memory bandwidth and multimodal signal processing capabilities compared to industry standards, laying the groundwork for Level 4 autonomous driving. In response to external concerns about the pace of intelligent driving iteration, Li invoked a “foundation philosophy,” stating that the automotive industry is a marathon requiring long-term investment. Regarding cost pressures, Li acknowledged that the per-vehicle cost for Onvo has risen by more than RMB 10,000, putting pressure on gross margins. Nevertheless, he expressed optimism for the second half of the year, citing continuous advancements in intelligent driving technology. Shen Fei added that Onvo’s current sales volume has already surpassed NIO’s delivery figures at the two-year mark of its own launch, though the team must remain clear-eyed about existing challenges and keep improving. Both NIO and Onvo’s technology strategies are focused on the next five to ten years, reflecting a long-term orientation.