NIO may not be known in Malaysia or even in most countries, but it is one of the steadily growing car companies from China which started business focusing on just electric vehicles. It’s a ‘new generation’ carmaker, just 4 years old, and already has at least 4 models on sale. Though most of its sales are in China, it has also entered Norway and next year, will be in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. By 2025, NIO expects to have a presence in over 25 countries and regions worldwide.

Joining the carmaker’s 4 models in 2022 will be a new model known as the ET5. It is the brand’s most compact car to date and used the concept of ‘Design for Autonomous Driving’ during its development. It has the latest NIO Autonomous Driving (NAD) systems with NIO Aquila Super Sensing and NIO Adam Super Computing. Additional NAD features will be gradually introduced after further development and validation.

Having started off with electric vehicles, NIO has naturally gained much expertise in developing fully electric powertrains and now has various types for different models. For the ET5, it will use a high-performance powertrain with proven dual motor architecture. This consists of a 150 kW induction asynchronous motor in the front and 210 kW permanent magnet motor at the rear generating peak torque up to 700 Nm.

Straightline acceleration is impressive with 0 to 100 km/h achieved in a claimed 4.3 seconds. The range claims are also impressive: reaches over 550 kms with a 75 kWh Standard Range Battery; over 700 kms with the 100 kWh Long Range Battery; and over 1,000 kms with a 150 kWh Ultralong Range Battery.

NIO developed and promotes the battery-swapping concept which reduces some cost to the customer who can then pay for fresh batteries when swapping. Since opening the first battery-swapping station in China in 2018, it has set up over 500 stations and by the end of October this year, 4 million battery swaps had been done. The NIO Power Swap is an automatic process where the car parks itself inside a station and it takes less than 5 minutes. The company also has 6,000 Power Chargers and 10,000 destination chargers across China.

With these new generation of carmakers, the question of experience in making cars safe is sometimes asked. They may be able to have great designs and advanced technology but what about the car’s performance in accidents? According to NIO, the ET5 has been designed to meet the stringent 5-star C-NCAP (China’s NCAP) and Euro NCAP standards. This is achieved using an ultra-high-strength steel-aluminium hybrid body with the very high torsional stiffness. The ultra-low centre of gravity, at 482.6 mm, and wheel track of 1685 mm, are also said to enable the ET5 to achieve a rollover-resistance rating of 1.7, above the US NHTSA’s 5-star criteria.

The sleek 4.7-metre long body is aerodynamically efficient with a Cd of 0.24, important for an electric car. Contributing to this level of efficiency are the rear ducktail spoiler and details such as the air curtain, flush door handles and frameless windows that create cleaner lines. Its form draws on the fluid silhouette of the ET7 while the muscular haunches are inspired by the EP9 supercar.

Evolving NIO’s concept of the ‘second living room’, the cabin of the ET5 was inspired by trends in furniture, fashion, and footwear, so it’s a sophisticated space with a warm touch. A larger glasshouse and panoramic glazed roof create a bright interior complemented by natural and organic hues including the brand’s new Terracotta, a deep and fiery orange.

Recycled and more sustainable materials are used as much as possible. The Clean+ sustainable fabric not only forms a relaxing cocooning ambiance but is also said to improve the acoustic performance of the cabin. Smart invisible air vents were developed for a neater and more cohesive design whilst a 256-color ambient light feature offers the chance to create an atmosphere to suit various moods. The standard audio system uses Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 surround sound system.

Set to be an industry first, the ET5’s PanoCinema is a panoramic and immersive digital cockpit with Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. NIO partnered with NREAL, an AR device company, to jointly develop AR glasses (exclusive to NIO) which can project an effective screen size of 201-inch at 6 metres.

NIO also collaborated with NOLO to jointly develop the VR Glasses that employ ultra-thin Pancake lenses, to create a binocular 4K display effect. The 10.2-inch HDR instrument cluster boosts the vividness of images.

The ET5 will be priced from RMB 328,000 in China (about RM216,700) but customers can also get subsidies to reduce the cost. First deliveries are expected to start in September 2022 although before then, the flagship ET7 will have started going to customers in March.

China’s NIO Inc. launches all-electric ET7, its first autonomous car