NIO, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, has reported a record-high operating loss of CNY 6.7 billion (USD 1 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2022. Despite the challenging times, NIO’s CEO, Li Bin, has stated that the company aims to double its sales target in 2023, requiring it to sell an average of 22,400 vehicles per month, based on last year’s annual sales of 122,400 vehicles. Li highlighted that the electric vehicle industry is currently uncertain and that the industry must make difficult choices.
Li emphasized that the company has had to make changes in three aspects: strengthening the research and development of core technologies, promoting the construction of charging and swapping infrastructure, and expanding the global market. Li confirmed that NIO’s losses last year were mainly due to R&D investment.
NIO has established more than ten R&D centers across the US, Europe, and China, and its R&D investment reached CNY 10.8 billion (USD 1.6 billion) last year. In the current year, the company will continue to increase investment in R&D, focusing on smart electric vehicles, including chips, underlying operating systems, materials, and batteries.
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The company has established a rechargeable, replaceable, and upgradeable charging and swapping service system since 2015. Over 180,000 charging piles and 14,000 public charging piles have been installed, with charging piles accessible to over 80% of users who are not NIO owners. NIO has connected over one million third-party charging piles globally, deployed 52 destination charging lines, and built 1,326 battery swap stations nationwide. The company has completed 20 million battery swaps, with its battery swap power accounting for 60% of the total power consumption of users, exceeding the charging power.
Li said that by 2025, NIO aims to fully build a high-speed power exchange network covering 19 major urban agglomerations. The company is committed to expanding infrastructure construction, with over 2,300 battery exchange stations and 10,000 charging piles to be added by the end of 2023. Recently, the company opened NIO House in Frankfurt, its first flagship store in Europe.