https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/o0ehbn/nio_is_worth_looking_in_to_dd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

I am sure you all have heard of a Chinese Electric Vehicle manufacturer that goes by the name $NIO – NIO Inc., and I am sure that you have heard them been called the “Tesla of China” but this title is very deceiving and gives the impression that Nio perhaps copied $TSLA - Tesla. However, this is false because Nio has a completely different business model and very different technology (especially in their swappable batteries) than Tesla does. Nio is up nearly 1000% on the year, so I decided to do an analysis to find out what all the hype was about and if this hype can be justified.

Company Overview:

Nio is a leading manufacturer of premium, smart, electric vehicles. Nio designs, develops, manufactures, and sells their vehicles to their main customer base in China. Furthermore, Nio is constantly looking to improve upon their autonomous driving, digital technology, battery technology and their powertrains, in order to differentiate themselves from their competition.

Nio has industry-leading battery swapping technology, which drives their battery as a service (BaaS) business. Additionally, Nio also has proprietary autonomous driving technology, which enables their Autonomous Driving as a Service (ADaaS) business.

Nio currently sells their vehicles in China, however they are planning on expanding their business into international markets, to capitalize on the growing demand for EV’s. Nio has 4 vehicle models, their ES8, ES6, EC6, and their ET7.

Investment Information:

· ES8 is a 6-7 seat premium electric SUV that features 2 induction motors (240 kW). The ES8 accelerated from 0-100 kph in 4.4 seconds and is ranked 5 stars by the C-NCAP (Chinese New Car Assessment Program) for their safety standards. Lastly, the ES8 can go roughly 355 km on a single charge. IN 2020, Nio sold 10,861 of their ES8 models.

· ES6 is a 5-seat high-performance SUV that features one magnet motor (160 kW) and one induction motor (240 kW). The ES6 can accelerate from 0-100 kph in 4.7 seconds and can reach up to 430km on a single charge. In 2020, Nio sold 27,945 of their ES6 models.

· EC6 is a Coupe SUV that features one (160 kW) magnet motor, and a (240 kW) Induction motor. The EC6 is capable of accelerating from 0-100 kph in 4.5 seconds, and it can go 440 km (70 kWh battery) to 615 km (100 kWh battery) on a single charge. The EC6 also features a 2.1 square meter panoramic glass roof. In 2020, Nio sold a total of 4,922 of their EC6 models, basically just in Q4 alone (16 were sold in Q3 and none in Q1/Q2).

· ET7 is a Sedan that offers 1 front magnet motor (180 kW), and one back Induction motor (300 kW). The ET7 is very aerodynamic and can accelerate from 0-100 kph in a mere 3.9 seconds. The ET7 has 5-star safety ratings from both Chinese and European Assessment Programs. The ET7 also features their computing system (Adam) and super sensing system (Aquila). This vehicle is said to be able to reach distances of 1000 km on a single charge (with their 150-kWh battery).

Battery Swapping (BaaS):

Nio’s battery swapping technology is supported by over 1,200 patents and this technology is supported on all of Nio’s vehicles. This technology provides Nio customers with the convenience of quickly swapping their battery for another one to continue their journey quicker through a seamless recharge.

Nio is releasing their Power Swap Station 2.0 in 2021, which will decrease their swap time to roughly 3 minutes and have the capacity for 13 rotational battery packs. In 2020, Nio had 172 Swapping Stations in 74 cities that swapped 1.4 million batteries.

Nio’s Battery as a Service business generates revenue through “battery subscriptions”, in which users have flexible subscription options that they can choose to fit their battery swapping needs. Currently, Nio has several subscriptions for both their 70 kWh, and their 100 kWh batteries.

If a customer were to select the 70-kWh subscription, they would enjoy approximately $11,000 (USD) off of the purchase price of their vehicle and pay a monthly subscription of approximately $150 (USD).

If a customer selects the 100-kWh subscription plan, they will enjoy approximately $20,000 (USD) off of the purchase price of their vehicle and pay a monthly subscription of $231 (USD).

Autonomous Driving (ADaaS):