Nio, A Chinese EV Manufacturer, Will Begin Producing Self-Developed Battery Packs In 2024

According to Reuters, Chinese EV manufacturer Nio has revealed that it will begin manufacturing high-voltage battery packs that it has developed itself in 2024. This is part of an effort to boost the company's profitability and competitiveness in order to better compete with rivals like Tesla.

Nio chairman William Li stated that the company will begin producing 800-volt battery packs in the second half of 2024, which will recharge faster than the 400-volt packs currently used in most EVs on the market. The Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, Lucid Air, Hyundai Ioniq 5, and Kia EV6 are among the notable models that use an 800-volt architecture.

Li also stated that Nio currently has 400 employees working on battery technology research and development, and that the company plans to use self-produced and externally sourced battery cells in the long run, similar to Tesla.

The self-produced battery packs will be used for a new mass-market marque that will launch models in the second half of 2024 priced between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan (RM131,562 and RM196,778). The ET5, which starts at 328,000 yuan, is currently the most affordable Nio model in China (RM215,229).

Nio predicted that battery costs would rise in the second quarter after renewing its contract with its sole battery supplier CATL in April. In the first quarter, the company reported a net loss of 1.8 billion yuan (RM1.18 billion), down from 4.9 billion yuan (RM3.21 billion) the previous year.

It also expects deliveries in the second quarter to be between 23,000 and 25,000 units, down from 25,768 units in the first quarter due to reduced production as a result of a two-month lockdown in Shanghai.

According to the company's most recent sales report, Nio delivered 7,024 vehicles in May 2022, bringing the year-to-date total to 37,866 vehicles (11.8 percent year-over-year increase). The company also announced that a new model will be released later today.