donews reported on December 15 that a few days ago, Weilai held a first-class communication meeting, in which Li Bin had a 2-hour exchange with everyone, and Li Bin answered everyone's concerns from the aspects of product, strategy and management.
DONEWS excerpted the answers on the three aspects of strategic market, battery swap and product from the on-site exchange shorthand for your reference. Of course, in the exchange, Li Bin also deliberately avoided some questions, such as when the cost of the battery swap station will be.
In general, although the whole exchange meeting was very frank, it was true that there was no saying yes and no no.
Strategy & Markets: Abandon illusions and maintain three priorities
What is the most important thing for NIO right now?
Li Bin: Three priorities: 1) Adhere to the R&D investment of heavy assets to ensure the leading position of technology and products;2) Ensure the construction, expansion and improvement of the sales network;3) Ensure the orderly R&D, mass production, launch, update and upgrade of the three brands and nine models.
How does NIO stay ahead of the brand?
Li Bin: Relying on unremitting technological innovation and technology investment, we provide users with technical value to drive the brand upward.
We position ourselves as a premium brand and have never said that we are a luxury brand, and there is a very clear difference between the two. If we want to be a high-end brand, we must maintain the leading technology, if the technology is not leading, do not adhere to the original, I am embarrassed to say that I am a high-end brand. We admit that NIO is still on its way to becoming a high-end brand.
Q: What are the keywords of NIO in 2023?
Up, this is the theme of this year's NIO Day, and it's a great way to represent 2023. On the one hand, this represents an upward trend in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles. On the other hand, NIO has reached a trough in stages, and "up" means that the trough has passed, and as long as it takes a step, it is an uphill road. Compared with other industries, the automotive industry is still fiercely competitive, which is a manifestation of vitality.
Q: What is NIO's response to the uncertain environment next year?
Our response is to maintain concentration and practice internal skills, which is our core strategy.
Q: What is your prediction for the market next year?
Give up illusions. I told the team that we must give up illusions, that the competition in the external market will not be fierce next year, and that we must give up illusions about the internal way of exchanging price for quantity. Next year's competition is going to be fierce, but no matter how fierce it is, we won't trade price for volume.
Battery swapping and fast charging: Battery swapping is open because of cost reduction
Q: What do you think of the 800V high-voltage fast charging that everyone is actively promoting?
Recently, everyone has been talking about ultra-fast charging, which proves that everyone attaches importance to pure electricity. At present, the models on the market that take the route of plug-in hybrid and range extension are very popular, but NIO insists on the pure electric market, and technologies such as ultra-fast charging are betting on the pure electric market, which proves that our route is correct. I believe that 2024-2025 is a critical period for the high-end pure electric market to explode, and our smart electric vehicles are still the ceiling, and they will be very competitive at that time.
Q: Will the opening of the battery swap network affect the user experience of NIO car owners?
Battery swapping is a distributed network, building a battery swap station is equivalent to buying some servers, we are a large network, but it can operate flexibly. Some are the equivalent of private clouds, and some are shared clouds, which is mostly an operational issue.
Q: Is there a risk to other brands of battery swapping?
There is no loss to other brands, they don't need to build a battery swap station, the development of the chassis only needs one or two million, sell an extra thousand cars and come back, I even call on all brands to see which cars can be replaced, I now not only hope that NIO will sell well, I also hope that other brands cooperate with the battery swap car will also sell well.
Q: Why do you want to bring in partners?
Mainly to reduce costs. Last year, the optional ratio of 75 degrees to 100 degrees for NIO users was 90:10, and now it is 92:8, because everyone finds that there is no need to simply compare with battery life. We change the battery in order to save costs for consumers, we are not simply reducing costs, it is saving resources, we can save 17% of resources. Endurance is not a technical issue, it is a matter of trade-offs.
Q: Can I make money by changing the battery?
I can definitely make money, but I won't be able to make money next year.
Q: What are the characteristics of the open battery pack?
There are two types of battery packs for our next generation, one for the high-end market and one for the mass market. After two years of repeated polishing and verification, it is the standard of the battery pack that we mainly share, because the range of products covered is relatively large. After that, we will also have an entry-level battery pack. You can understand that NIO has three battery standards open to the industry. Each type of package has a standard battery life, a long battery life, and an ultra-long battery life, which meet the product scenarios of % and 1%, respectively.
Q: Is the battery swap business a burden for NIO?
Li Bin: I want to solemnly tell you that battery replacement is not our burden. Our battery swap station can store electricity at night, release electricity during the day, and earn money for energy storage. In Shandong, Zhejiang and other places, our battery swap stations can participate in the regulation and control of power peaks and valleys twice a day.
Q: Is the battery swap business a moat for NIO?
I can tell you very clearly that the battery swap station is, of course, must be, and must be the moat of NIO. Moreover, with the enhancement of the scale and network effect of the battery swap station, as more and more partners and models join the NIO battery swap network, our moat will definitely become deeper and deeper.
Battery swapping is NIO's layout in terms of energy cloud, and it has three characteristics: 1) strong network effect;2) The investment scale is large and the construction period is long;3) Go through it yourself first, and then open it to others. For the battery swap station, we will continue to build the station, continue to invest, and continue to open. Today we signed a contract with a company to replace the battery, I just came back from the scene, and it will be officially open to the public in a few days. I hope that more car companies can become NIO's battery swap partners, and my biggest wish is that not only NIO's cars sell well, but also the battery swap cars that cooperate with NIO sell well.
Q: When will the battery swap station lose so much money?
Li Bin: I want to correct everyone's misunderstanding, it does not cost a lot of money to build a battery swap station, a battery swap station all year round plus labor, amortization and depreciation all costs, at most three or four hundred thousand, the battery swap service itself loses money is limited, mainly because the electricity is expensive. However, compared with the investment in the construction of cloud services, the investment in our battery swap business is really not large, and the loss is not much. A battery swap station can be profitable with 60 orders a day, and our average number of battery swap stations in Shanghai exceeds 80 orders, which is already profitable. I believe that our battery swap business will definitely make money, but it won't be able to make money next year, and it will take a long time.
Models: The second brand has three cars, and there are also MPV models
Q: Why do you want to make a flagship model?
We have a second brand to do the mass-market models for families, and only by leading technology can we create a high-end brand, and this is also the case in the era of oil vehicles, and we will continue to build a leading technology in the brand of NIO.
Q: Does NIO make MPVs?
MPV project was initiated, but not so quickly. Many car companies have launched MPV models one after another, and we admit that we are indeed late to enter the game, which is not in a hurry. If it's too late, there's no hurry, we can strike later.
Q: Will NIO do plug-in hybrid or range extension?
It's not a matter of technology, it's a matter of trade-offs. For example, someone offers a plug-in hybrid or extended range solution, and we offer an upgradeable solution.
Q: How is NIO's second brand progressing?
The name of our second brand is very down-to-earth, and I now ask the internal to call it "Dabie Mountain", which is more in line with the market positioning, and can also go to the top crowd and penetrate into more county markets, while leveling consumers' expectations for our second brand. We only have three cars in the second brand, and we think it is enough to make these three cars deeper, more refined and more solid in the positioning market.
Q: How is NIO's next-generation flagship model progressing?
Our upcoming release will also firmly enter the era of executive flagships. It will truly present innovative technologies to everyone, and will carry our latest technologies in intelligence, electrification and automotive technology, and will be the crystallization and integration of our technological investment. I can confidently say that it is definitely the world's most advanced model in terms of comprehensive intelligent strength.
Q: What is the difference between the three NIO brands?
The intelligent technology between our three brands can be shared and reused, similar to how many mobile phones of different brands and prices share the Android system. In fact, the cost savings and scale advantages brought by the reuse of intelligent software are huge, and the underlying technologies such as intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, digital systems, batteries, and motors are shared, but they will be differentiated in the vehicle process, so that we don't need to add too many people, and we can launch the second brand and the third brand. We hope that the NIO brand has a high share in the high-end market and a good gross profit to support the company's growthClause.
The second and third brands can serve more users.