About NIO

NIO Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells smart electric vehicles, driving innovations in autonomous driving, digital technologies, electric powertrains and batteries. The company differentiates itself through its continuous technological breakthroughs and innovations, such as its industry-leading battery swapping technologies, Battery as a Service, or BaaS, as well as its proprietary autonomous driving technologies and Autonomous Driving as a Service, or ADaaS. The company designs, develops, jointly manufactures and sells its vehicles in the premium smart electric vehicle market. The company offers its products and services in China, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden and plans to expand into more global markets to capture the fast-growing EV demand. 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 a succession of well-positioned vehicle models and established a competitive product portfolio, including the ES8, a six-seater smart electric flagship SUV, the ES7 (or the EL7), a mid-large five-seater smart electric SUV, the ES6, 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 ET7, a smart electric flagship sedan, and the ET5, a mid-size smart electric sedan. In 2022, the company started deliveries of the ET7, ES7 and ET5, and launched the EC7 and All-New ES8 which will be delivered in the second quarter of 2023. All those models are derived from the company’s NT2.0 platform, bringing users experiences beyond expectatioons in terms of design, performance, comfort, intelligence, safety and sustainability. They are equipped with NAD, comprising NIO Aquila, a super sensing system equipped with 33 high-performance sensors including LiDAR, and NIO Adam, a super computing platform with the computing power up to 1016 TOPS enabled by four NVIDIA DRIVE Orin X chips. Meanwhile, the company has launched the PanoCinema based on NT2.0, an immersive digital cockpit featuring AR and VR technologies, the world’s first on-board AI assistant, NOMI, the 7.1.4 immersive sound system, the waterfall ambient lighting, and the 12.8-inch AMOLED central control screen, making the car a holistic immersive digital space for users. 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 its 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. The company delivered 122,486 vehicles, including 14,351 ES8s, 14,159 ES7s, 42,012 ES6s, 17,076 EC6s, 23,075 ET7s and 11,813 ET5s in 2022. In 2023, the company plans to launch and deliver the All-New ES6, All-New EC6 and one new model derived from its NT2.0 platform, complementing its product portfolio and contributing to its vehicle sales. The company is also developing more products to expand its addressable market segments. Key Technological Breakthroughs and Innovations The company’s technological breakthroughs and innovations differentiate it from its peers, creating better user experiences and enhancing its users’ confidence in it. The company has strategically focused on building in-house capabilities, including battery swapping, autonomous driving, digital technologies, electric powertrain and battery, 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 has strategically located its research and development offices in locations. The company’s global research and development center for production models is located in Shanghai. The company’s research and development teams in Hefei mainly focus on vehicle engineering and manufacturing engineering. 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. 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 1,500 patented technologies, all of the company’s vehicles support battery swapping. It provides the company’s users with convenient recharging experiences by simply swapping the user’s battery for another one within minutes. In addition, it enables users to enjoy the benefits of battery technology advancements with upgrade options. In December 2022, the company introduced Power Swap station 3.0 with a service capacity of up to 408 swaps per day. Enabled by Lidars and NVIDIA DRIVE Orin X chips, it is able to support the Automatic Summon & Swap feature, through which the station can communicate with the vehicle and automatically navigates the vehicle to complete the swap. BaaS: 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. Autonomous driving and ADaaS The company is one of the first companies in China to offer enhanced ADAS capabilities. NIO Pilot, its proprietary enhanced ADAS, is equipped with Navigate on Pilot, or NOP. NOP is able to guide a vehicle on and off ramps, overtake, merge lanes and cruise according to planned routes in highways and urban expressways. In January 2021, the company announced NIO Autonomous Driving, or NAD, its next generation, proprietary full stack autonomous driving technology. The company has built up the NAD capability with in-house developed perception algorithms, localization, control strategy and platform software. The technology comprises a super computing platform called NIO Adam and a super sensing system called NIO Aquila. NAD is expected to gradually cover use cases from expressways, urban roads, parking, battery swapping to other domains to deliver a safer and more relaxing autonomous driving experience for the company’s users. Staring from the fourth quarter of 2022, the company has gradually released NOP+ beta to users based on NT2.0. The company plans to roll out NAD through a monthly subscription under ADaaS in the future. In addition, the company has commenced its inhouse research and development of the autonomous driving chipset to maximize the autonomous driving algorithm efficiency. Digital Technologies Digital System Digital system is the foundation for the company to achieve continuous upgrade 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, NVOS (NIO Vehicle Operating System), its vehicle digital system, has what is to be the industry-leading connectivity and remote service capabilities with an end-to-end security framework. 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 NIO Operating System, or NIO OS, with new features and applications. Inspired by the concept of mobile living space, the company has launched PanoCinema, a panoramic digital cockpit with AR and VR capabilities, to bring holistic immersive experiences to its users. Inside the company’s digital cockpit, NOMI, its in-car AI companion, can listen to, communicate and interact with users to build a strong emotional connection between vehicles and users. Electric Powertrain and Battery Electric Powertrain Starting from its first product, the company has designed, developed and manufactured its own proprietary electric powertrains in-house. The company’s electric powertrains are designed specifically for NIO’s vehicles, and through FOTA, it is able to continue to improve and update, and adjust according to its users’ driving behavior. Enabled by in-house research and development capabilities, its dual-motor configuration offers a variety of electric motors, including 150-300kW induction motor and 160-210 kW permanent magnet motor. The new-generation electric powertrain features Silicon Carbide power modules, which can minimize switching loss and improve system efficiency compared with IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor). Battery The company is committed to the research, development and innovations in battery technologies. The company’s batteries are based on advanced battery pack design, battery management system and proprietary swapping mechanism. The company offers two battery options: Standard Range Battery and Long Range Battery. The Standard Range Battery on offer is a 75 kWh cell-to-pack battery with hybrid LFP/NCM cells. With certain proprietary patents, the 100 kWh long range cell-to-pack battery features thermal propagation prevention, highly integrated design, all-climate thermal management and bi-directional cloud battery management system. The company announced the 150 kWh Ultra-long Range Battery with the next generation battery technology in January 2021, and expects to start its user delivery in 2023. Design Capabilities and Software-driven Vehicle Technologies The company has significant in-house vehicle design and engineering capabilities, which cover all major areas of vehicle development starting from concept to completion with a special focus on software-driven technologies. For example, the company’s inhouse developed Intelligent Chassis Unit enables redundancy control, electronic parking brake control, damper control, air spring leveling control, while achieving functional safety, cyber security and OTA updates. The company’s global design team has comprehensive design capabilities across the board, from brand, 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 its own online and offline platforms, including NIO app, NIO Houses and NIO Spaces, and aim to build a community where it shares joy and grow together with its users. NIO App NIO app, the company’s mobile application, is designed to be a portal not only for selling vehicles where users can place orders for and configure all NIO vehicles, but also for vehicle control, service access and NIO Life product purchase, and most importantly, an online platform for its user community. NIO House and NIO Space NIO Houses and NIO Spaces serve as the offline channels for the company to reach out to and serve its users, as well as the offline platforms for NIO user community. NIO Houses have showroom functions while serving as a clubhouse for the company’s users and their friends. The company opened its first NIO House in Beijing in November 2017. As of December 31, 2022, the company had 99 NIO Houses in total globally. NIO Spaces are mainly showrooms for the company’s brand, vehicles and services. Compared with NIO Houses, NIO Spaces are generally smaller in scale, more delicate and sales-focused. As of December 31, 2022, the company had 282 NIO Spaces in total globally (excluding NIO Space Pop-ups). NIO Day and NIO Events The company’s annual NIO Day is an event jointly hosted by NIO and its users where it launches its new products and technologies and celebrates the user community. In December 2017 in Beijing, 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 and industry participants in the subsequent years. Most recently, in December 2022, the company held the sixth NIO Day in Hefei and launched the EC7 and the All-New ES8. On October 7, 2022, the company held NIO Berlin 2022, and unveiled ET7, EL7 and ET5 for the European markets, including Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. The company offers its products in Europe through direct sales, leasing programs, as well as innovative NIO subscription, through which users will be able to choose the vehicle that best suits their needs for a flexible term from one month to 60 months. Formula E The company sponsors a Formula E team named as NIO 333, which is a racing team that competes in the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA, Formula E championship electric racing series. NIO Life The company has established its lifestyle brand NIO Life, which has an online store on NIO app where users can purchase NIO lifestyle products. The product categories include apparels, home and living, travel and bags, consumer electronics, car life, food and wines. Since the company launched its online store in December 2016, over 8 million NIO Life items have been delivered to its users through online and offline channels as of December 31, 2022. NIO Points The company provides users with NIO Points to encourage user engagement and positive user behavior, such as to keep a safe driving record. NIO Points are earned, among other things, through the welcome packages upon the purchase of NIO vehicles, referrals for test drives and vehicle purchases, and active engagement in the user community. NIO Points can be used, both at the company’s online store and at its NIO Houses and some of the NIO Spaces. NIO Users Trust The User Council helps coordinate user activities in the company’s community. 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 charging 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 of which are connected to cloud-enabled Power Cloud, which synchronizes users’ power consumption information and its power network, and intelligently suggests the appropriate services, according to the users’ locations and power consumption patterns. The company’s users not only get to check the availability of charging and swapping resources of NIO’s own network, but also have access to a network of public chargers and their real-time information through the Power Map on its NIO app. In addition, the company offers its users its One Click for Power valet service where it pick ups, charges and then returns the vehicle. Power Home Through Power Home, the company installs home chargers at its users’ homes upon its users’ requests if the installation is feasible. The company offers its users standard smart home chargers and high-speed smart home chargers. Power Swap All of the company’s vehicles support battery swapping. Once a vehicle is parked in the swap station and the swap function is activated, battery swapping will take place within minutes. Automatic battery and electric system checks are performed during each swap to enhance the safety and security of the vehicle and battery. As of December 31, 2022, the company had 1,315 Power Swap stations covering urban areas and expressways globally, through which it had completed over 15 million battery swaps cumulatively. Power Charger and Destination Charger Through Power Charger, its supercharging piles, the company provides its users a fast and reliable power solution. Users are able to locate, use and pay for the charging through its NIO app. The company’s Power Chargers are of a slim design and are located in parking lots and other locations easily accessible to its users. In December 2022, the company introduced the 500kW ultra-fast Power Charger, which has a maximum of 660A and a maximum power of 500kW, and it takes only 20 minutes to charge the 100kWh battery pack from 10% to 80%. The company also deploys chargers in tourist attractions, shopping malls, office buildings, and other types of destinations to expand the charging network for convenience and flexibility. As of December 31, 2022, the company had more than 13,000 Power Chargers and Destination Chargers in operation. The company plans to further enhance the efficiency and expand the deployment of its chargers to cater to the growing user demand. Power Mobile Through Power Mobile, the company provides charging services through fast charging vans with its proprietary fast-charging technologies, supplementing its swapping and charging network. Users are able to book Power Mobile services in advance through its NIO app. As of December 31, 2022, the company had approximately 300 Power Mobile vans in operation. The company regularly adjusts the deployment of Power Mobile vans in China based on its user distribution and user needs and plans to improve the efficiency of these NIO Power Mobile vans to create better experiences for users. Power Map In addition to its own swapping and charging network, the company’s users have access to a network of public chargers and their real-time information through the Power Map on its NIO app, which consisted of over 1,000,000 publicly accessible charging piles globally as of December 31, 2022. In order to further improve user experience, the company has been working to increase the number of chargers with data synchronized to its Power Cloud. One Click for Power The company offers its users its One Click for Power valet service. Through its NIO app, a user can have the company’s team pick up vehicle at the user’s designated parking location for valet charging or swapping. The company aims to provide users with the most convenient charging experience by identifying the most appropriate charging solution based on the user’s travel habits through cloud-based smart scheduling. Service and Warranty The company’s users can access a full suite of innovative services on its NIO app, as part of its strategy of redefining the user experience. In addition to its battery swapping services, BaaS and NIO Power solutions, the company offers its users NIO Service, primarily through its worry-free service plan and worry-free insurance plan. The company’s service capability is among the core competitiveness it possesses. Service Service Network The company provides servicing both through NIO service centers and authorized third-party service centers, both of which provide repair, maintenance and bodywork services. For its NIO service centers, the company has dedicated qualified technicians who receive regular professional trainings and skill tests, which ensures high-quality user services. As of December 31, 2022, the company had 75 NIO service centers worldwide. For authorized third-party service centers, it has a devoted management team to carefully select and bring authorized service centers into its network, most with experience servicing high-end branded vehicles. As of December 31, 2022, the company had 213 authorized service centers worldwide. Service Plan The company offers its users worry-free service plans and worry-free insurance plans on an annual fee basis in certain regions. The worry-free service plan provides statutory and third-party liability and vehicle damage insurance through third-party insurers, repair and routine maintenance services, courtesy vehicles, roadside assistances, optional value-added services, and enhanced data packages, among other services. Users are able to arrange for vehicle services using the company’s NIO app. At the user’s request, the company pick ups the vehicle, arrange for maintenance and repair services, and then return the vehicle to the user once the services are done. Auto Financing The company has agreements with several commercial banks in China, pursuant to which it assists users across China in acquiring financing when they purchase its vehicles. The company also offers auto financing arrangements to users directly through its subsidiaries. NIO Certified (Used Vehicle Service) In January 2021, the company launched NIO Certified, its used vehicle service, to provide high-quality services for used NIO vehicle transactions. The company has developed the capabilities in the major cities in China to cover services, including used vehicle inspection, evaluation, acquisition and sales. If users are interested in purchasing used NIO vehicles, they can directly find the product information and place orders on its NIO app. Research and Development In 2022, the company’s research and development expenses were RMB10,836.3million (US$1,571.1 million). Intellectual Property The company has developed a number of proprietary systems and technologies. The company designed and developed electric powertrain in-house. The new-generation electric powertrain features Silicon Carbide power modules which can minimize switching loss and improve energy efficiency. The company jointly designed and developed the 75 kWh hybrid and the 100 kWh NCM battery with its proprietary battery management system. The company has built up the NAD capability with in-house developed perception algorithms, localization, control strategy and platform software. As of December 31, 2022, the company had 3,703 issued patents and 2,338 pending patent applications, 4,723 registered trademarks and 1,739 pending trademark applications in the United States, China, Europe and other jurisdictions. As of December 31, 2022, the company also held or otherwise had the legal right to use 188 registered copyrights for software or works of art and approximately 671 registered domain names, including www.nio.io. Regulation According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Admission Rules, in order for the company’s vehicles to enter into the Manufacturers and Products Announcement, its vehicles must satisfy certain conditions, including among others, meeting certain standards set out therein, meeting other safety and technical requirements specified by the MIIT, and passing inspections conducted by a state-recognized testing institution. The company’s business is subject to a variety of consumer protection laws, including the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, as amended in 2013 and became effective in March 2014, which imposes major requirements and obligations on business operators. History The company was founded in 2014. The company 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.