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It’s only been five days since NIO officially launched its top-tier luxury sedan, the ET9, but the early buzz in China has been encouraging. The BEV will launch in 2025, beginning with a Limited Edition trim that sold out in the first 12 hours, so NIO has introduced another limited production run called the ET9 Signature Edition.

The new ET9 sedan was launched on December 21, during NIO Day 2024. The launch presentation included our first look at the ET9 inside and out. During that time, NIO confirmed that the ET9 starts at an MSRP of RMB 788,000 ($108,000), including the battery, slightly lower than the RMB 800,000 presale price announced during the model’s unveiling at NIO Day 2023.

The NIO ET9’s standard trim costs $108k, but the automaker will also sell a Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS )version that starts at RMB 660,000 ($90,420). Owners pay a monthly battery rental fee of RMB 1,128 ($155).

During the event, NIO debuted a Limited Edition launch trim of the ET9 with a starting price of RMB 818,000 ($112,065), which includes the battery. At the time, the Chinese automaker said it would only build 999 units of the limited edition ET9, and according to media outlet CnEVPost, all of them had been spoken for, exceeding sales expectations.

To appease Chinese customers who missed out on the 999 Limited Edition ET9s, NIO has added a new Signature Edition, which is slightly lower priced but with some unique features.

NIO ET9

NIO ET9 Signature Edition arrives for $110,700

As pointed out by CnEVPost, NIO announced the new Signature Edition ET9 on its mobile app earlier today. The Signature Edition is priced at RMB 808,000 ($110,700). That’s RMB 20,000 ($2,750) more than the Standard Edition trim and RMB 10,000 ($1,370) less than the Limited Edition NIO says sold out in under 12 hours.

According to the announcement, NIO introduced the new Signature Edition after receiving an influx of inquiries from Chinese consumers interested in purchasing one of the 999 Limited Edition trims after they had already sold out.

For the extra RMB 20,000 compared to the standard ET9, the automaker says the Signature Edition features exclusive logos, complimentary 23-inch premium wheels, free NOMI Mate 3.0, and other features. The Signature Edition ET9 is now available for order in the NIO app and currently shows a delivery wait time of 13 to 16 weeks, the same as the standard trim.

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Podcast: EV/Solar killing bill moves forward, Elon lies about Tesla’s demand, cheaper EVs, and more

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May 23, 2025

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Podcast: EV/Solar killing bill moves forward, Elon lies about Tesla's demand, cheaper EVs, and more

electrek podcast

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss the EV/Solar killing bill moving forward, Elon lying about Tesla’s demand, cheaper EVs coming, and more.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

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We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET)

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Environment

Circle K just opened a new spot exclusively for EV charging with no gas pumps in sight

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May 23, 2025

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Circle K just opened a new spot exclusively for EV charging with no gas pumps in sight

Circle-K-EV-Charging

This is what the future of travel will look like. Circle K opened its first location exclusively for EV charging in Europe. The site features ten ultra-fast EV chargers and a convenience store while you wait.

Circle K opens first EV charging-only site in Europe

The new EV charging hub is located in Gårda, near Gothenburg, Sweden. It’s Circle K’s largest EV charging-only location with ten 400 kW chargers that can recharge from 0 to 80% in around 15 minutes.

Kempower supplied two 600 kW Power Units and ten Single Satellite chargers that can deliver up to 400 kW of power.

With an improved version of Kempower’s Autocharge feature, the system can store your information so that the next time you visit, all you have to do is plug in. The system will recognize your vehicle and bill you automatically.

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While you wait, there’s a 1,076 ft² (100 m²) convenience store that offers “a complete retail experience,” offering food, drinks, Wi-Fi, and plenty of seating.

The site expects heavy traffic on Sweden’s E6, with over 10,000 vehicles travelling on the motorway daily.

Circle-K-EV-Charging
Circle K opens its first EV charging-only site in Europe (Source: Kempower)

The new EV charging-only site comes after Circle K opened its largest EV charging hub in Sweden. Located just southwest of Stockholm, the flagship location has 26 fast chargers that can be used with light and heavy-duty vehicles.

Circle K now has over 3,000 branded chargers across Europe and will continue adding to its network as demand for EV charging rises.

Circle-K-EV-charging
Circle K’s largest electric vehicle charging hub in Sweden (Source: Circle K)

With around 17,000 locations globally, the company said it’s “uniquely positioned” to support the transition to electric vehicles.

Will we see Circle K open a location exclusively for EVs in the US? As more electric cars hit the road, more charging options will be needed. A few convenience stores, including 7-Eleven, are already rolling out fast chargers. Through 7Charge, 7-Eleven aims to build “one of the largest and most compatible” EV fast charging networks of any retailer in North America.

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Environment

Trump signs orders to overhaul Nuclear Regulatory Commission, speed reactor deployment

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May 23, 2025

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Trump signs orders to overhaul Nuclear Regulatory Commission, speed reactor deployment

US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 23, 2025.

Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images

President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders on Friday to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and speed the deployment of new nuclear power reactors in the U.S.

The NRC is a 50-year-old, independent agency that regulates the nation’s fleet of nuclear reactors. Trump’s orders call for a “total and complete reform” of the agency, a senior White House official told reporters in a briefing. Under the new rules, the commission will be forced to decide on nuclear reactor licenses within 18 months.

Trump said Friday the orders focus on small, advanced reactors that are viewed by many in the industry as the future. But the president also said his administration supports building large plants.

“We’re also talking about the big plants — the very, very big, the biggest,” Trump said. “We’re going to be doing them also.”

Nuclear executives joined Trump for the signing ceremony, including Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez. Constellation is the largest operator of nuclear plants in the U.S. Nuclear stocks rallied Friday in response to the president’s actions.

NRC overhaul

When asked whether NRC reform will result in staff reductions, the White House official said “there will be turnover and changes in roles.”

“Total reduction in staff is undetermined at this point, but the executive orders do call for a substantial reorganization” of the agency, the official said. The orders, however, will not remove or replace any of the five commissioners who lead the body, according to the White House.

Any reduction in staff at the NRC would come at time when the commission faces a heavy workload. The agency is currently reviewing whether two mothballed nuclear plants, Palisades in Michigan and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, should restart operations, a historic and unprecedented process.

U.S. President Donald Trump listens as Joseph Dominguez, President and Chief Executive Officer of Constellation, speaks in the Oval Office on the day Trump is expected to sign executive orders, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 23, 2025.

Kent Nishimura | Reuters

Dominguez said the nuclear industry’s biggest problem has been regulatory delay. Constellation is aiming to bring the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island back online in 2028 after it closed for economic reasons. A separate reactor, Unit 2, was the site of a partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979.

“We’re wasting too much time on permitting and we’re answering silly questions, not the important ones,” the Constellation CEO said.

Trump’s orders also create a regulatory framework for the Departments of Energy and Defense to build nuclear reactors on federal land, the administration official said.

“This allows for safe and reliable nuclear energy to power and operate critical defense facilities and AI data centers,” the official told reporters. The NRC will not have a direct role, as the departments will use separate authorities under their control to authorize reactor construction for national security purposes, the official said.

Boost uranium mining

The president’s orders also aim to jump start the mining of uranium in the U.S. and expand domestic uranium enrichment capacity, the official said. Trump’s actions also aim to speed up reactor testing at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories.

Investment in nuclear power is growing in the U.S. after a long period of financial turmoil for the industry, including the shutdown of a dozen reactors in recent years as the industry struggled to compete against cheap and abundant natural gas.

The cooling towers of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania, Oct. 30, 2024.

Danielle DeVries | CNBC

Building new nuclear plants in the U.S. is notoriously slow and expensive. The two new reactors that recently came online at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Georgia took seven years longer-than-planned to build, and came in $18 billion over budget.

But the computer technology industry is now driving the revival in nuclear as it races to meet growing electricity demand from data centers used to drive artificial intelligence. Three Mile Island is expected to return to service with financial support from Microsoft, for example, and Alphabet and Amazon are investing in small, advanced reactors.

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