The Democratisation of Charging in China

Psst! wanna plug your EV in over here?...over there. EVERYWHERE! 

Put simply, that’s the vision of Chinese New Energy Vehicle Brand NIO. All makes Electric Vehicles are now welcome to plug in to their burgeoning EV eco-system ( but they might struggle with the battery swap proposition of course!) 

I always imagined that Tesla would be the first to do this as they were the first to concurrently offer vehicle + charging service. Unless I stand corrected, NIO are only the second manufacturer to offer the 'soup to nuts' electric vehicle experience - and some!

"Sharing the service makes complete sense"...

So said Lihong Qi when I spent 30 minutes with him in our 1-2-1 Q&A session. It accelerates the adoption of electric vehicles aka new energy vehicles, it presents a recurring revenue stream, and it welcomes competitor customers into the NIO brand...and presents an opportunity for conquest I'd suggest. All in - that looks like a neat strategy all round!

I got the comprehensive inside track from Power Boss Fei Shen during an intimate press gathering at one of the city’s NIO Houses the day after my show visit, and I’m going to share some of that with you now!

Let me be succinct in what I and others present thought of Shen’s proposition.

OMG! 

Now as we all know, having a vision is far easier than the hard bit, the application. 

Incidentally, this is my 3rd LinkedIn article, unashamedly in praise of a business that’s an international community of like-minded people, totally dedicated, totally connected, and super smart. 

But before I carry on, here’s an important announcement.

I’d first like to thank YOU!

As a follower of my musings, I fully acknowledge you are the reason I am getting early access to this exciting story (and a few other things elsewhere of course). I truly believe having an audience is a big responsibility, and I’m really appreciative of any time you choose to eyeball my ongoing narrative. I will share everything I can for as long as I can all the while you choose to be connected with me here on LinkedIn, and feel free of course to comment however you see fit.  

Meanwhile, over in China, just a few days ago.

Auto Shanghai makes the recent Geneva Show look like a car-fest seen through the wrong end of a telescope. However, not wishing to appear rude, quantity does not necessarily equal quality, and too much of what I walked past - mostly out of the corner of my eye – is unlikely to live a lot longer than one of those frantically scampering baby turtles you watch in a David Attenborough documentary. I’m told there are over 400 (N)EV companies in China at this time.                

I walked a few of the cavernous show halls in good company, as I shared an hour with world renowned car designer David Hilton (eg EP7) and his buddy Narendra Karadia. David’s lived in the country for some time and is nicely tuned in to the wax and wane of things. His design eye was a fascinating listen! 

In truth, as I only had a single day inside the epic emporium, I was mostly in and around the NIO Stand last Tuesday. I say stand, it was more like a small country. A live charging station and a scaled-up version of the downstairs-upstairs-showroom-clubhouse that’s being rolled out up and down the China mainland. On that point, you could be asking when might they come to Europe, to the USA – to anywhere else sometime soon? 

Tight lips all around on that one folks! 

However, when I had my allotted slot with them, I volunteered my own timeline to both Jack Cheng and Lihong Qi     

 “Not now. Not soon.”

So, for the avoidance of any confusion. The suggestion above is my own personal/professional view - anytime I or anyone else in the press pack asked about export time-lines, the response each and every time was, no comment.

Now please don’t stop reading when I mention the word Brexit - that finely crafted process of change that is now badly blurring the economic landscape across the whole of Europe, but as I see it, now or sometime soon might not be the time to deliver a relatively fledgling brand into the fray!

As to the USA. The current incumbent of The White House clumsily splashing red ink all over international trade relations with each passing day means that’s a fray to avoid too!

Over and above export prospects, their domestic market, whilst hugely encouraging, has volatility within it, and diminishing purchase incentives will soon be replaced by production mandates as I’ve mentioned here before (talked with Robert Llewelyn on them – link here)

Despite the lusciousness of the NIO House proposition and the epic charging eco-system, they still have to get into proper blood and guts volume business and fix the inevitable faults and frustrations that customers are bound to present. They’re always there, with all brands, with all products, in all markets, and as I said to both Jack & Lihong…

“You can only come to Europe or the USA or anywhere else for that matter - once!”

So when might they come then?

My fresh guess is not sooner than 2022. 

1600 Pensylvanaia Avenue could have a new resident then, and who knows, Brexit might have all fallen neatly in to place. Ha Ha Ha (it’s all farfrom funny of course)

A quick nostalgia segue... my second LinkedIn article, back in 2014 was titled ‘EV Phone Home’ – now that is funny!

Drapes on drapes off it’s another new car - the 3rdfrom the brand in as many years, and whilst not a production proposition yet, from the reactions I witnessed on the spot and subsequently in the press, they’ll have to make it now!  

For the record, it’s based on the same NP1 platform as the ES8 and ES6. As to other specifications, there were none. Feel free to speculate in the comments section below and I might be tempted to run an unofficial sweepstake on what cost, range, performance etc might be! 

Co-Founder William Li (Chinese name Li Bin for the record) set the day off with a brief state of the NIO Nation presentation accompanied by the typical swanky show video montage…and then the product reveal! 

With my hugely sophisticated camera crew and loads of equipment (just me and an Iphone 7 with a cracked screen) I scampered over to the ET and selected the time-lapse option, because, being British, I didn’t want to spoil anyone else’s snaps by walking in front of them. 

From there I minced around (occasionally donning my sunglasses due to the glaringly bright lights) watching and listening and learning as much as I could, and as mentioned in an earlier post, a host of Autoland’s hierarchy plus posse, came and took a good look at things on the NIO stand, often making an inevitable beeline for the battery section.   

 Crammed it all in for sure! – a long day at the show, eating, city centre business presentations, eating, popped round the corner from my hotel to the Byton showroom, a visit to a live swap station (with notable charging neighbors), more eating, writing things up. And then, sober as a judge, falling asleep on the bed with all my clothes on.  

In conclusion. I believe they are far better equipped to tackle the challenges of a highly competitive market than almost anyone else, and I sense that NIO will be painting on a much bigger canvas over coming years.

And whilst I have a whole lot more to pen from my notes, I don’t want to be too greedy with your time right now – so as every picture tells a story…