On December 24, 2022, at the Binhu International Convention and Exhibition Center in Hefei, Anhui Province, the NIO brand officially opened NIO Day 2022 for this year. NIO Day is an annual gathering between NIO and car owners and friends, and it is also an annual event for the brand.
This year, NIO Day continues to adopt the bidding system. There are a total of 10 candidate cities, and more than 95,000 people participated in the voting. Hefei, where the NIO China headquarters is located, was finally selected. NIO users deeply participated in all aspects of this NIO Day. More than 1,400 users participated in the co-creation of NIO Day. 717 user volunteers from Hefei and all over the country warmly received car friends across the country.
The theme of this event is “Feel the Light”. At the scene, the band 2022 NIO Band formed by NIO user Huang Yida and others sang the annual theme song “Feel the Light” of the same name live, conveying the value proposition and emotional resonance of “serious life”.
The charity bazaar for users initiated by Anhui Charity Federation and NIO User Trust was opened to NIO users and Hefei citizens in Hall 5 of Hefei Binhu International Convention and Exhibition Center on the same day. All proceeds from the bazaar will be donated to Anhui Charity Federation. The NIO User Trust matched donations 1:1 with the charity sale, which became a vivid footnote for the NIO community to give back to the society.
During this event, Weilai’s new ES8 (configuration|inquiry) and EC7 were officially launched, and the third-generation power station and 500kW ultra-fast charging technology were officially released.
New ES8 launched
One of the highlights of this NIO Day is NIO’s new ES8, which is positioned as a smart electric flagship SUV and is the absolute flagship of NIO’s current models. The new car is based on the latest NT2.0 technology platform, and is closely related to the latest level and concept in the future in terms of design and technology. The starting price of the new ES8 equipped with a 75kWh battery pack is 528,000 yuan; the starting price of the executive version equipped with a 75kWh battery pack is 548,000 yuan; the starting price of the BaaS plan is 478,000 yuan. The starting price of the new ES8 signature version is 638,000 yuan, and the starting price of the BaaS plan is 510,000 yuan. Pre-orders are now open on the NIO APP, and delivery is expected to begin in June 2023.
NIO’s new ES8 is the second-generation model of the ES8 car series, and it is NIO’s first new model. The overall styling style is generally consistent with the old model, but the updated details, simpler lines and more sculptural shape have added a new interpretation to the design language of this flagship SUV, representing NIO’s first The most advanced expression of the second-generation design language on SUV models. In terms of body color, the new car has a total of 7 colors, including Dawn Gold and Star Green, and provides Sun/Moon two themed appearance suits.
After switching to NT2.0, the new ES8 has a new front face, with a smoother curved surface and folded shark-nose closed grille, Double-Dash daytime running lights with narrow and deep shapes, intelligent multi-beam headlights The lighting is amazing, and the tail is replaced with an integrated illumiBlade light front taillight, which makes it have a more intense electric vehicle flavor. Under the design concept of “Design for AD”, the lidar and camera on the top of the new ES8 also adopt a watchtower design with obvious features.
In terms of body size, the length/width/height/wheelbase of the new ES8 are 5099mm/2199mm (rearview mirror open)/1750mm and 3070mm respectively, which have increased compared with the old model. Under the design concept of PURE-TEC, the new ES8 hides functional elements as much as possible and makes the overall design more integrated.
The new ES8 cockpit continues the design concept of the “second living room”. The dual-IP design style divides the center console into upper and lower layers. A large number of high-grade environmentally friendly materials are used in the cockpit, such as HAPTEX, renewable rattan wood, soft gold decorations and other materials. It also has 5 interior themes: Yuanshandai, Chogoli Grey, Tortoiseshell Brown, Yunbeimi, and Yunsen Green.
The new ES8 has as many as 174 LEDs on the upper layer of the door panel, which is officially called “dynamic light waterfall ambient light”, supports a variety of intelligent and emotional scenes, and has a “night chat around the stove” mode.
The car has a built-in N-Box enhanced entertainment console, and users can get a plug-and-play AR/VR experience. NOMI applies a new generation of neural network technology to support the six-tone zone interactive experience on the new ES8, and adds a new interactive scene for children, making the third-row interaction more accurate. The audio part has Dolby sound effect, professionally tuned by Dirac Pro, the power is upgraded to 20-channel 2230W, and 23 top-quality speakers.
In terms of driving assistance, it is equipped with NIO’s latest Banyan intelligent system, including the Aquila super-sensing system composed of 33 high-performance sensors such as ultra-long-range lidar and 8-megapixel camera, composed of 4 NVIDIA Drive Orin X chips, and the total computing power Adam supercomputing platform with up to 1016 TOPS. In addition to NOP+, NIO will gradually realize high-speed pilot battery replacement in the first half of 2023. Users can initiate navigation through EC7 and the new ES8. After that, the vehicle can automatically complete the power-adding route planning on the expressway, and intelligently navigate to the battery replacement station. Complete battery replacement autonomously and automatically drive out of the service area and return to the expressway.
In terms of seats, the main driver’s seat can be adjusted in 20 directions, and the passenger’s seat can be adjusted in 22 directions. The maximum adjustment angle of the “Queen’s Co-pilot” reaches 170°. The width of the two independent seats in the second row is about 55cm. It supports 14-way seat adjustment and one-button comfort mode, forming a 135° semi-lying posture. The hot stone massage provides 5 modes. The third-row seat space experience is fully optimized compared with the previous generation ES8, and the configuration is more abundant.
The new ES8 is equipped with NIO’s new-generation high-efficiency electric drive platform, which adopts the layout structure of a front 180kW SiC permanent magnet synchronous motor/rear 300kW induction motor, with a total motor power of 480kW and a total torque of 850N m. It has an acceleration of 4.1s to 100 kilometers, and for the first time uses six-piston calipers to achieve a braking distance of 34.3m. The chassis is equipped with a new dual-cavity air suspension that can dynamically adjust the suspension softness and hardness, ICC intelligent chassis domain controller, CDC dynamic suspension damping control, and IPB intelligent brake-by-wire system.
EC7 listed
EC7 is a brand-new model launched by NIO this time. NIO officially defines EC7 as a newer species other than the new pure electric species. It fully restores the appearance and aesthetics of Coupe SUV. The starting price of the EC7 equipped with a 75kWh battery pack is 488,000 yuan; the starting price of a model equipped with a 100kWh battery pack is 546,000 yuan; the starting price of the BaaS solution is 418,000 yuan. Pre-orders are now open on the NIO APP, and delivery is expected to begin in May 2023.
Based on NT2.0, EC7 also has NIO’s current mainstream family-style design language. Under the design concept of PURE-TEC, functional elements are hidden as much as possible. And the closed grille of the brand new X-bar can be recognized as a NIO car at a glance.
The new car adopts a slip-back shape, and has the consistent beauty of a coupe-style SUV with a long wheelbase and long rear overhang. In terms of body data, EC7 has a length of 4968mm, a width of 1974mm, a height of 1714mm, a wheelbase of 2960mm, a minimum ground clearance of 162mm, and a drag coefficient of 0.230Cd.
In terms of the rear, the compact Coupe SUV brings a compact and upturned dynamic tail with a through-type taillight design. It is worth mentioning that the EC7 is NIO’s first mass-produced model to adopt an active lift-type tail.
The cockpit continues the design concept of the “second living room”. The dual IP design style divides the center console into upper and lower layers, and the visual effect of rich layers of materials and texture collisions. The leather and the exquisite metal decoration of the same color show a luxurious atmosphere, while the color jump stitching makes it more sporty. EC7 has a total of five color themes, including three new interior colors: Cocoa Brown, Chogoli Gray and Coral Red.
The new car is equipped with PanoCinema, a panoramic digital cockpit using AR/VR technology, equipped with 10.2-inch HDR digital instruments, and a 12.8-inch central control screen. , the graphics processing capability has been comprehensively improved, and it has vehicle-mounted mobile and communication capabilities, including 5G, V2X, Bluetooth, WIFI6, and NFC. NOMI, which applies a new generation of neural network technology, is also equipped.
In terms of driving assistance, EC7 has a full set of automatic driving hardware on the NT2.0 platform, including NIO Aquila super-sensing system and Adam super-computing platform, as well as Weilai’s automatic driving technology NAD.
In terms of audio, the Weilai EC7 (configuration|inquiry) series comes standard with 23 speakers, including 7 tweeters + 7 midrange units + 4 woofers + 1 subwoofer + 4 sky channels, with a total power of 1000w.
In terms of seats, the NIO EC7 is equipped with integrated sports seats, and the coverage has the unique Active style perforated texture of the EC series. In terms of configuration, the front seats are equipped with heating, ventilation, massage and back soothing functions as standard; the rear seats are equipped with heating, back soothing functions as standard, and ventilation and massage functions are optional. The queen’s co-pilot can achieve zero-gravity comfortable sitting posture with one button (one-button comfort mode).
The EC7 is also equipped with NIO’s new-generation high-efficiency electric drive platform, which adopts the layout structure of a front 180kW SiC permanent magnet synchronous motor/rear 300kW induction motor, with a total motor power of 480kW and a total torque of 850N m. The acceleration time from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour is 3.8 seconds.
In terms of batteries, NIO EC7 offers three battery pack options of 75kWh, 100kWh and 150kWh. Under CLTC comprehensive working conditions, the longest battery life of the 75kWh battery pack reaches 490km, the 100kWh long battery pack 635km, and the 150kWh battery pack model 940km.
As for the chassis, the aluminum alloy content of the new car’s body-in-white is about 91%, and high-strength aluminum alloy is used. Equipped with front double wishbone independent air suspension + rear H-Arm multi-link independent air suspension intelligent air suspension + CDC dynamic damping control system intelligent chassis domain controller ICC. The brake part is equipped with Brembo four-piston high-performance calipers as standard, and six-piston calipers are optional. The braking distance per 100 kilometers is only 33.9 meters.
Release of the third-generation power station and ultra-fast charging
In 2023, NIO will build more than 1,700 battery swapping stations and more than 20,000 charging piles in China. In this event, Weilai officially released the third-generation power station and 500kW ultra-fast charging.
The third-generation power exchange station adopts a brand-new three-station coordinated power exchange mode, which improves the service capacity by 30% compared with the second-generation power exchange station. The replacement power station will also be equipped with 2 lidars and 2 Nvidia OrinX chips, with a total computing power of 508TOPS, which can realize the function of vehicle calling for battery replacement.
NIO ultra-fast charging has a maximum current of 650A and a maximum power of 500kW. It only takes 20 minutes to charge a 100kWh battery pack from 10% to 80%.
Li Bin, the founder, chairman and CEO of Weilai, said at the event that in 2023, Weilai will provide better products, technologies and services to bring users a better experience of smart electric vehicles.
(Editor in charge: Wang Xiaojian)