A video posted late on June 30 to Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, confirmed what we suspected in early June: Nio’s new Firefly brand won’t be compatible with Nio swap stations. Firefly is the code name for Nio’s third brand that was originally aimed at the European market. Now the brand, which specializes in smaller electric vehicles, will reportedly launch first in China and later in Europe.
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In the recent video, Nio founder William Li can be seen wearing a T-shirt, possibly talking to members of the media, but it is not clear where the video was taken or when. In the 17-second poor quality video, Li clearly says that the Firefly brand is not compatible with Nio’s current battery swapping stations and that the brand will use special small container-sized battery swapping stations. These have a relatively simple structure and you can buy coffee at the Firefly exchange station.
When we first brought you news last month that Firefly won’t be able to use Nio swap stations, we suspected that it might be a case that they can’t use the existing stations and that the new fourth-generation station, which debuted in mid-June , would be compatible. That is certainly the case with Nio’s second brand Onvo. Onvo brand cars are not compatible with first and second generation drives. Third generation stations require modifications before Onvo cars can use them, but the fourth generation is fully compatible.
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This is of course not the case with Firefly. The stumbling block to compatibility is the wheelbase. In an earnings call in June, Nio indicated that the first Firefly model would cost around 100,000 yuan ($13,800). Firefly will focus on smaller, more affordable cars in the 100,000 – 200,000 Yuan (13,800 – 27,600 USD) segment. Nio says it has not yet publicly released the wheelbase requirements for the fourth-generation swap station, but the second and third generations both require a 2800mm wheelbase.
Small cars are likely to need a shorter wheelbase than 2800mm. A Volkswagen ID.3 has a relatively long wheelbase of 2770 mm, but a BYD Dolphin has a wheelbase of 2700 mm and an MG4 has a wheelbase of 2705 mm.
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Where does all this leave the Firefly brand? Starting July 4, Nio cars in the EU will be subject to a 21% tariff on top of the existing 10% rate. This, coupled with Nio’s poor performance in Europe thus far, is likely part of the reason why Nio is reportedly no longer launching the Firefly brand in the EU and China at the same time.
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Creating another battery swapping network besides the one for Nio will come at a huge cost. While on the face of it the stations will be much simpler and likely cheaper than Nio interchange stations, in addition to the cost, there are the logistical implications and the rollout of such a network for an unproven brand. This will be a huge drain on the company’s resources.
Source: Weibo