Nio’s Onvo L60 SUV-coupe starts pre-sale at 30,500 USD, has lower energy consumption than Model Y and 1000 km range

On May 15, Nio launched its mass-market brand, Onvo. It is positioned under the Nio brand and focuses on young families. Onvo stands for On Voyage, and the Chinese name is Ledao (乐道), which means “road to happiness”. The deliveries will start in September, and the presale started today for 219,900 yuan (30,500 USD).

Onvo L60 is an all-electric fastback SUV, and during the official launch, Nio heavily benchmarked it with the Tesla Model Y in all aspects. The EV’s energy consumption is 12.1 kWh/100km under CLTC conditions, which is better than the Model Y’s 12.5 kWh/100km under the same CLTC conditions, Nio claims.

“We’ve prioritized low power consumption since day 1,” Onvo president Alan Ai (Ai Tiecheng) said before the launch. Ai is a former general manager of WeWork China and vice president of marketing at Disney. He joined Nio in January 2021, creating an Alps team, which was Onvos’s codename.

The Onvo L60 is a mid-size SUV with dimensions 4828/1930/1616 mm (length/width/height) and a wheelbase of 2950 mm. That translates as 190/76/64 inches and 116 inches wheelbase.

For comparison, the Tesla Model Y is slightly smaller, with dimensions of 4750/1921/1624 mm and a wheelbase of 2890 mm. Tesla’s SUV starts at 249,900 yuan (34,600 USD) in China for the 60 kWh variant, which has a CLTC range of 554 km (344 miles). Unlike Model Y, the Onvo L60 doesn’t have a frunk.

“The pre-sale price of the Onvo L60 is 30,000 yuan (4,200 USD) lower than the Model Y,” said Alan Ai during the launch event.

The L60 will come in three range variants:

• Standard range with 555 km (345 miles)
• Long range with 730 km (454 miles)
• Extra Long Range with 1000+ km (621+ miles)

The EV will have 60 kWh, 90 kWh, and 150 kWh battery pack options. The 150 kWh battery is a semi-solid state battery from WeLion, which can be swapped into the car at the swap station but can’t be purchased. L60 features 900V architecture, so expect some fast charging.

The presale price includes the battery pack. The vehicle’s starting price without battery pack under BaaS (battery-as-a-service) subscription wasn’t revealed. However, it is usually 70,000 yuan (9,700 USD) lower. Some media previously speculated about BYD being an Onvo battery supplier; however, Nio didn’t disclose the battery manufacturer during the conference.

Nio stated that Onvo will launch globally in late 2024, and the first stop will most likely be the European Union.

In terms of computing power, L60 is equipped with one Nvidia Orin X chip, which has a computing power of 254 TOPS, seven 8-megapixel high-definition cameras, 4D imagining radar, and four 360-degree cameras. It has no lidar. That is quite a downgrade as all current Nio models have four Nvidia Orin X chips with a combined 1,016 TOPS (trillion operations per second) computing power.

Regarding aerodynamics, the drag coefficient is 0.229Cd at 120km/h, which is not bad for the mid-size SUV, and energy efficiency is 92.3% under the CLTC standard, Onvo claims.

The interior wasn’t officially unveiled, but we know the cabin will have a large 17.2″ central control screen with 3 K resolution, no LCD instrument panel in front of the driver, and instead a 13″ head-up display (HUD). For the passengers, there is an 8″ entertainment LCD on the rear of the center console. All this is conducted by a new Onvo OS in-cabin software. Interestingly, the front seats can be entirely down to create one big bed for sleeping.

Onvo L60 was created by former Bentley designer Raul Pires, Nio’s Head of Design, who spent over 20 years at Volkswagen Group.

All Onvo cars will support battery swapping and are compatible with Nio’s swap stations. However, not all – Onvo will be compatible only with the third and fourth-generation swap stations. Nio currently has about 2,400 swap stations, of which 1,000 are third and fourth-generation, which Onov cars can use.in China

Onvo L60 will compete with the Tesla Model Y, Toyota Rav4, Xpeng G6 and BYD Sea Lion 07 in China. The EV will start deliveries in September when the powertrain and the rest of the key specifications will be revealed.

Later this year, Nio will launch its second sub-brand, codenamed Firefly. This sub-brand will be primarily focused on the European Union market with an entry-level electric hatchback. William Li, Nio’s CEO, previously said that Firefly would be to Nio what Mini is to BMW.

Editor’s comment

In 2023, Tesla Model Y sold about 450k units in China, 75% of Tesla’s sales in the country. Model 3, once a popular mid-size sedan in China, was decimated by a flood of affordable electric sedans from both EV startups and state-owned automakers such as BYD Seal, Xpeng P7i, Zeekr 007, Nio ET5, and dozens of others. Its sales declined in 2023, and 2024 doesn’t look any better.

However, the Tesla Model Y is a different story. Despite the Chinese launching a couple of fair enough competitors for mid-size electric SUVs last year, none of them managed to shake the Model Y’s success, as its sales were pretty solid through the year, being the main motor behind Tesla deliveries in the Middle Kingdom.

William Li said in March that those who want to buy the Model Y should wait for the Onov L60, as the EV will undoubtedly be cheaper and better. Li also claimed that the L60 would outsell the Xiaomi SU7, which launched on March 28, received 100,000 locked-in orders, and plans to deliver 100,000 vehicles in 2024.

Those are pretty bold claims. One point that shouldn’t be omitted is to watch how Onvo will influence Nio’s main brand sales. I would be pretty worried about Nio ES6, which is Nio’s bestseller. It starts at 338,000 (46,800 USD) and has specs similar to those of ancs as L60. Will lidar and more computing power be enough for consumers to pay an extra 120,000 yuan (16,700 USD)? We will keep an eye on it.