NIO: Massive expansion of electric car range
After a delivery record in the fourth quarter, which nevertheless fell short of its expectations, the start-up from China was also able to massively expand its range of e-cars. This is particularly evident in the city of Shanghai, where NIO 2022 has made massive investments. Most recently, the brand's largest delivery centre was opened there.
The delivery centre facility covers a total area of 50,000 square metres and has a rest area, a delivery area, a vehicle preparation area and a car park. The delivery area alone covers 5,760 square metres with a total of 100 delivery bays. This makes it possible to deliver up to 200 vehicles in a single day.
This is the latest move for NIO in Shanghai, where NIO last opened a new service centre in the Songjiang district on 18 August 2022. Now the tenth in the city and the largest in China. The service centre has a total area of over 12,000 square metres with up to 70 repair stations and 129 standard parking spaces, covering maintenance, sheet metal work, painting, vehicle diagnostics and car washing. In addition to services, including repairs, the service centre also has a showroom and offers test drives and test rides.
The expansion of the company's infrastructure in Shanghai can be understood if one takes a look at the figures there. In 2021, NIO had a 23 per cent market share of all fuel-powered and electric SUVs priced above the equivalent of €47,400 in Shanghai, William Li, the company's founder, chairman and CEO, said during a quarterly report conference call on 25 March 2022.
On 30 November, NIO launched its 100th battery replacement station in Shanghai, and the network officially completed its initial coverage of all districts in the city. At that time, 87 per cent of NIO owners in Shanghai had a battery swap station within 3 km of their home. In Shanghai, NIO battery swap stations have served 41,866 owners, NIO said in a statement last November.
Globally, NIO increased the number of NIO Houses by 63 to 99 in 2022. NIO Houses hide the brand's flagship showrooms, which display and sell much more than just vehicles. The NIO House usually consists of two areas, a vehicle display area and an area with various user functions.
In addition to the NIO House, NIO has smaller showrooms called NIO Space, the number of which has increased by 79 to a total of 303 in 2022. To date, there are both NIO Houses and NIO Spaces in 134 cities worldwide.
NIO also added 25 Delivery Centres in 2022, bringing the total number to 48 in 45 cities around the world. The number of service centres also increased. There are now 288 in 179 cities. Furthermore, as of 31 December, the brand has 1,315 battery swap stations, 6,209 charging points, 7,159 destination chargers and access to more than 1.01 million third-party charging points worldwide.