China continues to be the world’s biggest electric vehicle market, averaging more than a million units being sold for the last couple of years. Nio, which is amongst the most popular local electric car manufacturers, has just unveiled its fourth EV — the Nio ET7.
Revealed at its Nio Day event, the ET7 is the company’s new flagship sedan which will be delivered in the first quarter of 2022. Being a premium product, it has a futuristic design and a barrage of features for comfort. During the keynote, they even went ahead and compared it to a living room, with spacious seats with in-built massager, smart air suspension, heating as well as ventilation. The air vents are also concealed amid the rest of the design to be “invisible” for all passengers.
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There’s a panoramic laminated glass roof on the Nio ET7. The windshield also offers a heads-up display. A 12.8-inch tablet will be the hub for all controls and entertainment. Along with that, there will be an array of 23 speakers with an output of 1,000W. Nio claims that this is the first vehicle in the world to support a UWB-enabled digital key which will unlock automatically based on proximity and location.
The Nio ET7 has a dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain capable of a peak system output of 480 kW and 850 Nm of torque. It is claimed to have an acceleration of 0-100 kmph in 3.9 seconds. It is available in two battery options: 70 kWh for a range of over 500 km, and 100 kWh for 700 km of range. In late 2022, a third variant with a denser 150 kWh battery will be available, which should be able to travel over 1,000 km on a single charge — the most for any electric car in China.
Nio also made big claims about its autonomous driving technology, stating that it can beat Tesla’s industry-leading self-driving capabilities. It uses an array of eleven 8MP cameras, LiDAR, mmWave radars and Adam (its proprietary onboard supercomputer), along with an Nvidia platform capable of 1,016 TOPS of throughput.
Pre-orders are now open in China. It can be bought upfront or with the battery as a service (BaaS), as a part of a monthly subscription. Similarly, the autonomous driving package will cost CNY 680 (~Rs 7,700/$105) monthly, but all vehicles will have the necessary hardware included.
| Variant | Upfront price | BaaS service |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (70 kWh) | CNY 4,48,000 | CNY 3,78,000 + CNY 980 monthly |
| Standard (100 kWh) | CNY 5,06,000 | CNY 3,78,000 + CNY 1,480 monthly |
| Premier (100 kWh) | CNY 5,26,000 | CNY 3,98,000 + CNY 1,480 monthly |
| Long-range (150 kWh) | TBA | TBA |
Nio has been steadily ramping up its sales by delivering 17,353 cars in the last quarter of 2020, (recording a 111% year-over-year) split rather evenly between the ES6, the ES8 and the EC6 models. It will compete with the Giga Shanghai-built Tesla Model Y SUV, which has a new lower starting price of CNY 3,39,900 (~Rs 38.5 lac).