Nio Replied to an ES8's Driving Experience Under Extreme Cold

Feb 14, Nio (蔚来) replied to an allegedly awful and painful driving experience conducted by Mr.WANG, who drove Nio ES8 in Northeastern China where the temperature was under minus 30°C and without any charging station, saying that they would not recommend driving electric vehicles for such a long distance journey under such extreme temperatures regularly.

To solve the power problem, Nio sent a charging diesel accompanying the ES8, which led to a question that whether EVs are really bringing a“Blue Sky”, as Nio or many other EV manufactures touted. According to the test, ES8 usually consumes 35 liters to 40 liters of diesel for every 100 kilometers, according to the test. Nio implied that there was a negative impact of temperature on the battery capacity and range which also depended on different driving habits and road situations. As for the charging stations, the company pointed out that charging cars are back-up solutions. Nio will build charging stations if it is regularly needed.

To address the range anxiety and calls for a long-range battery, Nio has some moves. December 2018, the company launched the world's first ever battery swap network on G4 Expressway, and NIO opened its charging car power-up service from January 31 to other EV users, covering 21 cities in China. Nio received some negative feedback before, just like this time, and this young listed EV maker fretted over this kind of questioning voices. But sales volume told a different story about the company and even the whole EV market in China.

Total passenger vehicle sales in Jan was 2.02 million units, falling 17.7% year-on-year, the biggest drop since the market began to contract in Jun 2018, according to a report published by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Downward pressure is huge and the darkest era of China’s auto market is coming. The new energy passenger vehicles sales, however, recorded 85,000 units, growing 138.3% over the last year. Nio delivered 11,348 vehicles in 2018, beating its original 10,000 units target. The completion rate was 113.5%, a fair number compared to peers in China. According to data compiled by Gasgoo, readings of such big names as BYD and BAIC were 123.9% and 105.3%, respectively.

Besides, somehow range anxiety is not that important. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average American drove an average of 13,476 miles per year. When divided by 365, we get an average daily mileage of around 37 miles. Not to mention that China doubled its charging infrastructure in the past year, from 2.5 charging stations per 100 km of roadway to 5.7 from July 2017 to July 2018, according to a Roland Berger report. The company also pointed out that Chinese customers have the most faith in EVs– 39% would buy one to replace their trips on public transport.