NIO launches its Onvo L60 at just over €19,000 with rented battery

Electric carmaker NIO has officially launched its ‘affordable’ Onvo brand in China with the L60 crossover, a Tesla Y competitor offered at an incredibly lower price of 149,900 yuan, or some 19,050 euros. That’s without the swappable battery, which is rented under the Battery as a Service (BaaS) option.

The 60 kWh battery pack offering a 555 km range (CLTC) is rented for 599 yuan (€76) a month, and the 85 kWh pack (730 km) for 899 yuan (€115). Those wanting to buy the battery with it will have to spend 206,900 yuan (€26,293) for the Onvo L60 60 kWh RWD base model.

Swappable at NIO’s Power stations

Even the most expensive rear-wheel-drive version of the Onvo with the 85 kWh battery is 235,900 yuan, or 29,778 euros, more than 5% cheaper than the Tesla Y (249,900 yuan) it clearly envisions. Test cars were seen in China with the sticker “Better than a Model Y”. The latter has a 60 kWh battery, suitable for a 554 km CLTC range.

Later, as confirmed at the press launch, even a 150 kWh battery pack could be offered for ranges up to over 1,000 km. Like all NIOs, the Onvo’s battery is swappable and compatible with NIO’s 3.0 and 4.0 Power Swap Stations. NIO has a network of over 2,500 swap stations in China and some 50 currently in Europe, of which ten in the Netherlands.

Latest 900-volts platform

The Onvo uses NIO’s latest NT 3.0 technology, a platform upgraded from 400 to 900 volts, which results in better energy efficiency, faster charging, and outstanding cost savings. According to Deutsche Bank analysts cited by Chinese media, this explains the low prices but still ensures a 15 percent vehicle gross margin for the Onvo brand.

NIO’s founder and CEO William Li expects much of the lower-priced sub-brand Onvo, launched on May 15th, to reach the one million milestone of cars built. Onvo stands for ‘On voyage,’ but its Chinese name, Ledao, literally means ‘Path to Happiness’. That name was carefully chosen with families in mind.

Those families can expect real ‘bang for one’s buck,’ as all versions have the 240 kW (321 hp) electric motor on the rear, which can deliver up to 305 Nm of torque. The dual motor versions get an extra 100 kW boost for a total of 340 kW or 455 hp.

Even the base version has a top speed of 200 km/hour and accelerates in 5.9 seconds from 0 to 100 km/hour, while the top version needs only 4.6 seconds. Energy consumption is as low as 12.1 kWh/100 km for the single-motor version and 12.7 kWh/100 km for the dual-motor version. It is impressive partly due to its sleek, Cd 0.229, aerodynamic shape.

Stylish but minimalistic

Like all NIO models, Onvo’s interior design is stylish but minimalistic. This one NIO calls ‘an ‘Urban Oasis AI Smart Cockpit.’It has as few physical buttons as possible, a three-spoke steering wheel, and two scroll wheel controls.

All functions are bundled in the sizeable 17.2-inch touchscreen, mounted horizontally on the middle console, mimicking its major rival’s austerely interior. The drive selector is moved to a steering wheel handle, as in the Tesla. There is a 13-inch HUD in front of the driver and only a tiny ‘dash’ display behind the wheel indicating the speed.

The seats are covered with an in-house-developed synthetic leather called Caretech. It’s supposed to be skin-friendly, non-allergenic, and antibacterial. The seats have a 10-layer ergonomic composite structure, which Nio claims can help avoid fatigue over long journeys. The backs of the front seats can fold to provide a perfectly flat surface for relaxing.

There is no shortfall in comfort

Low prices don’t necessarily mean low comfort, as you get heated seats and a climate control system that can heat the car from 0°C to 20°C in 30 seconds. Music comes from an 18-speaker 1020 W sound system with Dolby Atmos, which includes a karaoke function for devotees.

The car has a nearly 2-square-meter panoramic roof and a multi-layer filtering system that can block PM 2.5 particles, carbon gas, and bacteria to keep the air inside healthy at all times. It also has a reasonably sized trunk with space for five suitcases and an optional 52-liter fridge under the trunk floor.

There are no cutbacks on safety, as the Onvo L60 is said to come with 45 active safety systems as standard, including Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) up to 120 km/hour. Unlike the NIOs, the Onvo is not equipped with Lidar and uses a vision-based system and an intelligent driving system known as OSD (Onvo Smart Driving).

It has a 4D imaging radar with a maximum detection range of 370 meters, seven 8-megapixel cameras, four surround-view cameras, and 12 ultrasonic radars, which, according to Onvo, allow Navigation on Autopilot (NOA) on 99.9% of roads, including in cities.

In Europe, NIO’s models are available in Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark, with Belgium probably in 2025 or even 2026. However, the brand is also preparing to bring the affordable Onvo range to Europe. When that is expected has not been communicated yet.