NIO (NIO) eyes rapid overseas expansion as low-cost Onvo EV brand carves out a new market
NIO (NYSE: NIO) plans to expand into 25 overseas markets by the end of next year. With its new lower-cost Onvo brand already driving demand, NIO expects to play a much bigger role in the global EV market. Will we see NIO’s electric vehicles launch in the US? Europe?
After its sixth straight month, with over 20,000 vehicles sold in October, NIO appears to be gaining traction.
NIO-branded vehicles accounted for 16,657 of the nearly 21,000 models sold last month, while its new mainstream Onvo brand contributed 4,319 in its first full sales month.
After launching the Onvo L60 at the end of September, NIO’s new midsize electric SUV is already showing promise. Starting at just over $21,000 (149,900 yuan), the L60 is widely compared to Tesla’s top-selling Model Y.
The Onvo electric SUV is cheaper than the Model Y in China, which starts at around $35,000 (249,900 yuan). However, the $21K L60 price is if you rent the battery, which includes an $85 (599 yuan) or $125 (899 yuan) monthly fee, depending on the battery’s size.
Even with the battery included, NIO Onvo L60 prices still undercut the Tesla Model Y, starting at $29,300 (206,900 yuan).
At 4,828 mm long, 1,930 mm wide, and 1,616 mm tall, NIO’s electric SUV is a direct rival to Tesla’s top seller (4,750 mm long x 1,921 mm wide x 1,624 mm tall).
| NIO Onvo L60 vs Tesla Model Y trims | Range (CLTC) |
Starting Price |
| NIO Onvo L60 (Battery rental) | 555 km (341 mi) 730 km (454 mi) |
149,900 yuan ($21,200) |
| NIO Onvo L60 (60 kWh) | 555 km (341 mi) | 206,900 yuan ($29,300) |
| NIO Onvo L60 (85 kWh) | 730 km (454 mi) | 235,900 yuan ($33,400) |
| NIO Onvo L60 (150 kWh) | +1,000 km (+621 mi) | TBD |
| Tesla Model Y RWD | 554 km (344 mi) | 249,900 yuan ($34,600) |
| Tesla Model Y AWD Long Range | 688 km (427 mi) | 290,900 yuan ($40,300) |
| Tesla Model Y AWD Performance | 615 km (382 mi) | 354,900 yuan ($49,100) |
NIO wants more to gain overseas market share
In May 2021, NIO announced it was taking the brand global. By October, the Chinese EV maker opened its first overseas showroom in Norway.
Although the company unveiled plans to enter over 25 overseas markets during NIO Day in December 2021, the expansion has largely stalled.
Over the past few years, NIO has focused on its existing overseas markets, including Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark, but that will soon change.
According to NIO’s president and co-founder, Qin Lihong, the company is standing by its 2021 target.
In a recent interview with Chinese media CGTN (via CnEVPost), Qin said, “I hope that we can expand to up to 25 different countries or regions by the end of next year.”
NIO’s president added, “We want to enter more than 90 percent of the market presence” in the next five to ten years.
Although no specific markets were mentioned, local media reports suggest they will include major auto hubs like the US, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. However, with tighter regulations on EV imports from China expected, the US could be a hard market for NIO to compete.
With NIO’s new Onvo L60 gaining momentum, the low-cost brand could play a significant role as the EV maker expands overseas.
According to NIO Onvo’s president, Alan Ai (via CnEVPost), over 7,000 L60 models have been delivered as of November 14. By March 2025, Onvo is expected to deliver over 20,000 models in a single month.
Onvo is also launching its second EV next year, a six or seven-seat electric SUV. NIO’s CEO William Li said the new Onvo model will be “much more competitive” than the L60.
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Germany’s largest offshore wind farm under construction, EnBW’s He Dreiht, just hit a big milestone: The first enormous turbine is now up in the North Sea.
He Dreiht – which means “it spins” in Low German – is using Vestas’s massive 15 megawatt (MW) turbines, the first project in the world to install them. Just one spin of one of the rotors can generate enough electricity to power four households for an entire day.
When it’s finished, He Dreiht will have 64 mega turbines cranking out 960 megawatts (MW) of clean power – enough to supply around 1.1 million homes. And it’s being built without any government subsidies.
EnBW, one of Germany’s major energy companies, has been working in offshore wind for more than 15 years, but He Dreiht is their biggest project yet. “It will play a key role in helping us to significantly grow our renewable energy output from 6.6 GW to over 10 GW by 2030,” said Michael Class, who heads up EnBW’s generation portfolio development.
The project is a win for Vestas, too. “With the installation of the first V236-15.0 MW, we have reached an important milestone for both the He Dreiht project and our offshore ramp-up, which helps Germany build a more secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system,” said Nils de Baar, president of Vestas Northern & Central Europe.
He Dreiht is located about 85 kilometers (53 miles) northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Helgoland. At peak times, more than 500 workers will be out at sea building the farm, using a fleet of more than 60 ships. EnBW’s offshore team in Hamburg is running the show.
The installation process is a major operation. The 64 foundations were already set in the seabed last year. Parts for the turbines are loaded onto the installation vessel Wind Orca in Esbjerg, Denmark, and shipped out in a 12-hour journey to the construction site. From there, the turbines are lifted into place. Meanwhile, crews are also working on internal wind farm cabling.
A partner consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP, and Norges Bank Investment Management owns 49.9% of the shares in He Dreiht.
Read more: Trump admin halts $5 billion NY offshore wind project mid-build
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Tesla has released a quick update about its Tesla Semi factory in Nevada. It says that it is on track for volume production of the electric semi truck in 2026.
The Tesla Semi was first scheduled to go into production in 2019, but it has faced numerous delays.
Now, it appears that there is finally some momentum to bring it to volume production.
For the last two years, Tesla has been working to build a new factory next to Gigafactory Nevada, where it builds the battery packs and drive units for most of its electric vehicles built in North America.
Today, Tesla released a “progress update on the factory, confirming that it finished building and it’s now working on deploying the production lines:
Tesla had previously mentioned aiming for volume production by 2025, but it is now only talking about starting production toward the end of the year and ramping up next year.
The automaker reiterated its planned production capacity of 50,000 units.
We recently reported that an early Tesla Semi customer, Ryder, stated that the electric truck program is experiencing more delays and a price increase described as “dramatic.”
They now expect to take deliveries of their first trucks later in 2026 and said that the price has increased “dramatically,” leading them to scale back their pilot program from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks.
When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.
However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2022. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.
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Vietnamese solar panel maker Boviet Solar just opened the doors to its first US factory — a huge new PV module plant in Greenville, North Carolina.
The company dropped $294 million into the state-of-the-art facility, which will pump out Boviet’s Gamma Series monofacial and Vega Series bifacial solar panels. They’re using advanced PERC and N-Type solar cell tech, which basically means these panels are built to deliver higher efficiency and better performance across residential, commercial, industrial, and utility-scale projects.
The Greenville factory’s first phase is now online with an annual PV module output capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW). For Phase 2, which is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2026, Boviet will invest another $100 million to add 600,000 square feet and ramp up to another 2 GW. It will make high-efficiency solar cells.
Once both phases are complete, Boviet’s campus will cover more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and R&D space. It’s one of the biggest clean energy manufacturing projects North Carolina has ever seen.
The jobs impact is significant, too. The first phase will create 460 skilled local jobs. Phase 2 is expected to add another 908, bringing the total to over 1,300 direct jobs, plus nearly 2,000 more indirect jobs across the region. That’s good news for Pitt County’s economy, real estate market, and workforce training programs.
“This facility is not just creating jobs, but creating opportunity, innovation, and a stronger foundation for eastern North Carolina,” said Senator Kandie Smith. Governor Josh Stein added that Boviet Solar’s move shows how North Carolina is leading the way in clean energy growth.
Read more: Thomas Built Buses debuts its next-gen electric school bus
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