Posted on 27 May 2024
Nio will continue its expansion in Europe despite the European Commission’s ongoing investigation on China-made battery electric vehicles, Kallanish learns.
The Chinese carmaker’s founder and ceo William Bin Li and co-founder and president Lihong Qin drove from Frankfurt to Amsterdam for the company’s showroom opening ceremony in Amsterdam.
Bin Li said in his live streaming that the company plans to open its battery swapping network beyond China, creating a corridor between Shanghai and Amsterdam.
“We estimated that the journey is about 10,000 kilometres. If the distance between two battery swapping stations is 200 km, 50 battery swapping stations are needed. Then it means 60 battery swapping stations if leaving some room [for emergencies],” he says.
He also disclosed that the company is considering collaborating with a local manufacturer to build a factory in Europe, though sales in the region must increase first. “In Europe, building production facilities is a very natural decision for us. The baseline of sales [needed for a plant] is 100,000 units. We are very confident, although we know that there is a long way to go in Europe,” Bin Li adds.
Commenting on the anti-subsidy investigation against BEVs imported from China, the ceo says: “I think that many of the accusations by the European Commission do not make sense. We are from China, but we are also a global company. We are against such an approach where the tariffs are used to stop the flow and trade of electric vehicles.”
The EU is considering increasing import tariffs on China-made BEVs to prevent “damage” to its local automotive industry. It claims Beijing has artificially lowered EV prices through heavy subsidies and unfair practices. China rejects the claims and asks for an open market free of protectionism.
Source:Kallanish
