There is officially a new player in the world of electric vehicles, as Chinese automaker NIO has brought a new electric SUV to market. What's more, the new model will likely compete with Tesla's popular Model Y, Electrek reported.
Tesla recently dropped the price of the Model Y in the U.S., but the best-seller still costs around $35,000 in China. The presale price of the new NIO model — the Onvo L60 — is set at just $30,500, making it a real competitor with similar mass-market models, according to Electrek.
Beyond the price, the two cars fulfill similar demands with their stripped-back design inside and out. Instead of a driver-side display, both feature a large center screen for navigation, music, and settings, as reported by Electrek.
🗣️ If you were going to buy an EV, which of these factors would be most important to you?
🔘 Good driving range 🔋
🔘 Low sticker price 💰
🔘 High-tech features 🤖
🔘 Cheap maintenance 🔧
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
A NIO comparison also claimed the new model to be more energy efficient than the Tesla counterpart.
Since it became available, initial sales of the L60 have skyrocketed. Onvo, a sub-brand of NIO, ramped up production in September and opened 100 new stores to start filling orders, according to Electrek.
"Tesla's sales … are going to be more severely dented in China in 2025," an Electrek commenter predicted.
"Sounds like there are substantially more orders than they expected, go NIO," one Reddit user congratulated following the L60's release.
The success shows how more people are buying into never paying for gas again, skipping out on noisy engines, and saving money on vehicle maintenance — all while cutting pollution out of the atmosphere.
Still, some consumers hold concerns about EVs, pointing out that the energy needed to make and charge the batteries can cause pollution. Plus, the materials that go into each battery require complex mining operations that also harm the environment.
Those concerns are true — but they are still preferable to a world dependent on coal, gas, and oil. Driving an EV, even with a battery charged using dirty energy, is still cleaner than a car that is fully reliant on those dirty energy sources.
As for mining, energy experts have pointed out that while millions of tons of minerals are needed for clean energy sources, billions of tons are already being extracted for dirty energy sources. Replacing billions of tons of minerals repeatedly consumed for millions of tons used just once is a no-brainer.
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