A camouflaged Onvo L60 exits a Nio battery swap station, marking the first time the model has been seen performing a battery swap.
(Image credit: @撕葱葱芒 on Weibo)
The L60, the first model from Nio’s (NYSE: NIO) Onvo sub-brand, has been seen leaving a battery swap station, suggesting that major development work on the model may be complete.
A video shared today by Weibo blogger @撕葱葱芒 shows a camouflage-wrapped Onvo L60 driving out of a Nio battery swap station, possibly having just had its battery replaced.
This is the first time the Onvo L60 has been seen performing a battery swap, after spy shots of the model have appeared several times on social media.
Onvo is a sub-brand of Nio under the internal codename Alps, and the electric vehicle (EV) maker also has another sub-brand under the internal codename Firefly. The internal project code for the Onvo L60 is DOM.
Nio confirmed the Onvo name during a media Q&A after its March 14 long-life battery strategy launch and said the brand launch is expected in early-mid May.
Before the name was confirmed, Nio management said in a March 5 earnings call that Alps’ first model would be one that competes directly with the Tesla Model Y, and that the BOM (bill of materials) cost would be about 10 percent cheaper than that of the Tesla crossover.
Alps’ second vehicle will be an SUV for large families, which will hit the market next year, and a third vehicle is already in development, Nio said on the call.
Nio’s fourth-generation battery swap stations are compatible with different brands of vehicles, and most of the stations that will be added this year will be part of a shared network, the company said on March 5.
Alps models will use the shared battery swap network, and Nio brand’s models will also be able to use the stations, according to the company.
The battery swap stations Nio is currently installing are third-generation and were unveiled at the Nio Day 2022 event on December 24, 2022, with installations beginning in April 2023.
The company unveiled the fourth generation battery swap station at the Nio Day 2023 event on December 23, 2023, which will be equipped with 23 battery compartments and will increase the capacity to 480 services in a single day.
Nio plans to continue adding 1,000 battery swap stations in China in 2024, taking the total to over 3,310, the company said at the Nio Day 2023 event.
Installation of the fourth-generation stations will begin in April 2024, Nio said at the event.
It’s not clear if all current Nio battery swap stations support Onvo-branded models. Some bloggers on Weibo said that all of the fourth-generation stations and some of the third-generation stations and will support Onvo models.
