What is NIO’s systematic efficiency?

Author | Luo Yuchao

Produced by | Automotive Electronics and Software

On September 21, NIO held an Innovation and Technology Day.

Smart manufacturing

Today, six years later, when I look back at this sentence, I indeed find that it played a crucial role.

First, it accelerated the launch of the first mass-produced car, the ES8 . At the beginning of its establishment, Wei Xiaoli adopted the OEM model (because it did not have the qualification to build a car). Wei Xiaoli was established almost at the same time (within 7 months around 2015). Xiaopeng's delivery time was the earliest. In January 2018, NIO ES8 started delivery on May 31, 2018, while Li Auto's first delivery was on December 4, 2019. But Weilai should be the first new car manufacturing team to achieve stable vehicle appearance and interior quality. Even in 2018, the appearance quality of the NIO ES8 surpassed that of Tesla in the same period. Some people may not believe it. At that time, I was on the CQA team of NIO. Almost every day or two, I would randomly select a vehicle from the off-line vehicles and rate the vehicle's appearance quality, interior quality and software function quality, as well as its comparison with competing products. Car models for comparison. Since the scoring is only used for internal evaluation of the quality of ES8, it is strictly confidential and does not need to be announced to the outside world. Therefore, we only need to score from an objective and neutral perspective to evaluate how much room for improvement ES8 has. Objectively speaking, there were still many problems with the software at that time: some defined functions were not implemented, and functions that had been implemented had certain functional defects. But in terms of appearance quality and interior quality, it has indeed surpassed Tesla and some other luxury models on the market at that time. All this is due to Dr. Shen Feng and his quality team.

Secondly, it significantly reduced the investment in early-stage self-built factories, allowing NIO to spend more money on other heavy asset investments . The investment in building a self-built vehicle assembly plant is very large, including at least the stamping workshop, welding workshop, painting workshop, and final assembly workshop. The new car-making forces in the early stage do not have any experience in vehicle manufacturing or factory operation. At this time, if they invest a lot of manpower and time to build their own factories, it will obviously consume a lot of resources and time. More importantly, the cars are not yet available. It must be recognized by consumers . The total investment of Li Auto's Beijing Shunyi factory is 6 billion, and the total investment of Xpeng Motors' Zhaoqing factory is 10 billion. Although NIO had the idea of ​​building its own factory in Shanghai in 2018, it gave up in 2019 in the face of huge financial losses. Instead, we completely adopted the JAC OEM method, and further relied on JAC to build a second factory together. Public data shows that for every car JAC produces, NIO needs to pay JAC 10,400 yuan in OEM fees and about 6,000 yuan in loss compensation [1] . Based on this data calculation, as of September 2023, NIO will The total OEM cost paid to JAC is around 5.7 billion (about 5 years). As capacity utilization increases, loss compensation should continue to shrink. Ultimately, Weilai’s OEM cost should be close to 10,000 yuan per vehicle or even lower.

However, OEM is a double-edged sword, and OEM has caused widespread doubts about vehicle quality. However, when the quality gradually stabilizes and external doubts disappear, OEMs show greater advantages. For a period of time, NIO’s sales did not increase. For a team that built its own factory, sales did not increase, which meant that a large amount of production capacity was idle. Workers also have no way to stop work and take a break anytime and anywhere. During the epidemic, we saw that many factories, not only new car-making forces, but also traditional OEMs, forced employees to take holidays. Mandatory holidays are not only a matter of money, but can also easily cause people to be distracted. Weilai does not have this problem. Although this risk falls on JAC, JAC became an instant success by supplying OEM products to NIO, and is more likely to solve this problem. JAC can not only receive compensation for the production capacity that NIO cannot utilize, but can also further cooperate with Volkswagen and Huawei to sell this part of the production capacity to different OEMs. In this way, it not only reduces the risk that NIO will not be able to utilize 100% of its production capacity, but also JAC does not have to worry too much about the waste caused by excessive investment in production capacity.

Since NIO has saved so much money by building its own factory, where did his money go? It is still the most expensive company among the new car-making forces.

A self-built factory is a huge heavy-asset investment. NIO is not only a car company, but also an Internet technology company. It also has heavy-asset investment: the cost of a battery swap station is US$772,000. As of today, NIO has a total of There are more than 1,600 battery swap stations, with a total investment of 9.3 billion, which is close to the cost of building a self-built factory. So let me make a bold guess: Weilai used the money saved from building its own factory in five years to invest in battery swap stations. Everyone has the factory, there is no differentiation, and the battery swap station may become NIO’s trump card.

#02

battery system

Rechargeability is the foundation and a necessary basic function for electric vehicles.

可换是特色 。刚刚前面已经讲到，蔚来将在工厂上的重资产投入节省下来，大幅投到了换电设施上。虽然前期获得了大量嘲笑。但是到2023年，我们发现不仅是蔚来，上汽、北汽等传统主机厂也在积极布局换电设施。判断某个商业决策是否正确，一个很关键的考量因素是，友商是否在模仿。这也说明了蔚来这一步打法拥有非常好的前瞻性。蔚来换电站的布局，领先这些传统主机厂5年，传统主机厂在工厂已经投入了大量的重资产，很难想象，如何继续在换电站上，投入大量重资产。短时间之内换电站无法盈利，而已经上市的传统汽车公司，财务报表上一定会非常重视盈利。可以推断，将来可能考虑将这部分换电站设施，从母公司剥离出去。或者更简单的方法，找第三方公司来做。那找谁做更容易？无疑是蔚来汽车。蔚来汽车如果后续将电池系统开放出去，只要主机厂按照蔚来的电池尺寸和设计，完全可以考虑共用蔚来的换电站。软件是汽车的灵魂，但电池不是！也许蔚来可以从此处获得高额的授权费用。但是电池包的尺寸，影响到车辆的底盘结构，没有办法保证不同尺寸的车型都使用同样尺寸的电池包。我大胆猜测一下，蔚来的换电站，已经具备，或者未来一定会朝着支持多种尺寸的电池方向发展。蔚来的换电站将逐渐变成行业的基础设施。

可升级的要求更高，也是可换带来的必然结果 。电池可升级这一点，非常好的体现了蔚来的体系化效率设计思维。什么叫可升级？一块70度的电池，用了五年之后可能衰减到了只剩下一半里程，这个时候我们可以升级到一块全新的100度，或者150度的电池。有人会说，不支持换电的电动汽车同样也能够升级，无非就是把电池拆卸下来，再换一块新的上去。可是，按照换电思维来设计的车辆，只需要三分钟就能完成电池的升级。而没有按照换电思维来设计车辆，这个时间可能是以天来计算的。效率决不可同日耳语。电池升级也不仅仅只是一块电池的更换，前期的设计可能还需要考虑，线束的大小、高压充放电设备、行车系统软件的显示等。最简单的例子。车辆的仪表板能否显示，车辆还剩100度电，而不是最多只能显示70。所以你说设计之初就没有考虑换电的车辆，能支持电池升级？我持怀疑态度。

可充可换可升级，带来的另外一个好处就是，电池可以租用，也可以分开售卖。因此，电池，这块电动车的最大成本，约占整车BOM成本的20%到30%，就可以从车辆成本中剥离出去。长期来看，它给另一部分消费者提供了另一种可能性，采用更低的车款，来购买一辆更高端的车型。按照车辆真正的使用量，来支付电池的使用成本，而不是无论用几年、怎么用，都付一样的钱。

另外一个好处，由于电池不再是整车的一部分，蔚来完全可以不再购买这块电池，而只是从电池供应商那里租赁，然后转手再租给终端用户。电池的生产、检测、日常维护、报废，都在电池运营商的手里。不仅降低了蔚来的采购成本压力，降低了车主的一次性购买成本，同时也提高了电池运营商的效率。三赢局面。

全景互联

#04

车辆工程

第三，个性化需求与平台化效率的平衡。

蔚来将自己定位为一家用户企业，也就意味着他愿意承接的个性化需求，比传统主机厂要多很多，可能都不是一个数量级的。

经常有用户提到，双电机对我来说太多余了，而且价格又太高，是否能换成单电机？

李斌在视频中也做出了解释，为什么不切换成单电机。一方面是因为蔚来的定位就是高端智能电动汽车，另一方面，减少一个电机，意味着你要多维护一个硬件版本。当版本维护越来越多的时候，无疑需要付出巨大的人力和成本，从而会降低开发效率。举个例子，去掉电机，整车的底盘结构就要对此做出变化。前后车辆的配重不一样，那么整车的一些零部件都可能要进行全新的布置。这个可能意味着一个全新的底盘版本。

从上面我们的分析里面可以知道，大部分个性化需求都集中在软件需求上。所谓的个性化需求，并不是说蔚来的每一款车型，都要做不同的软件。相反，是要在尽可能少的版本里面，要尽可能多的覆盖车型。有一些功能，可能只能在A车型实现，而不能在B车型实现，那么可能也只是在代码里面隐藏这部分而已，而不是拉出两个分支。因此，蔚来在创建之初，就在构建自己的软件平台。

In another situation, when a car model develops to a certain stage, users will put forward various personalized needs. NIO responds very quickly to personalized needs. Feedback on problems can be provided through the in-car Nomi, through sales specialists, and through the exclusive service group for car owners. After such a demand reaches the internal team, it must first be judged whether it is a platform demand or a personalized demand. If it is a platform requirement, it must be incorporated into the platform software version at the beginning of the design and implementation of the requirement. If it is just a personalized demand for a certain car model, there is no way to judge whether it is a platform demand or a personalized demand at the current stage. And this demand is very important to users on this model, so they will first treat it as a Treat it according to individual needs, and when it develops to a certain time, determine whether it needs to be moved to a platform version. We can use these two pictures to represent this process.

#05

Global digital operations

From 2017 to 2019, when I was working at NIO, NIO’s global digital operations were not thorough enough. Although most teams at that time were using the same set of project management tools, it was a pity that this set of project management tools was different from the automotive industry in terms of requirements management model, and did not have a strong quality management system to support it. It was not suitable for test management. There is almost no support, giving different teams a lot of room to play. Therefore, based on their previous experience and different capabilities, different teams have built completely different requirements management and test management tools, and established different process quality system architectures. This also brought hidden dangers to subsequent global digital operations.

However, after I left, I have been paying attention to Weilai and learned that they are constantly making improvements in their tools, trying to create a set of tools suitable for the systematic and efficient operation of the entire company. I believe it will be successful, as the 12 major technical systems are closely linked. Li Bin also generously shared their layout, "It doesn't matter if you take pictures, these structures are all public, and each frame represents a lot of money and a long time of investment." This also reminds me of when I first joined NIO. As a colleague on the quality side of the factory, I could also see a lot of information on vehicle requirements and architecture design, which gave me a deeper understanding of the ES8 product. Li Bin has a very open attitude, which later influenced the company I founded: when the company has nothing at the beginning, you don’t have to worry about your thoughts, your ideas, and your little knowledge being used. People steal, design a more open and trusting organizational structure, and when the company develops to a certain point, gradually tighten the authority. But in any case, it is still necessary to maintain a high enough level of transparency to achieve true systematic efficiency.

[1] JAC OEM Weilai received an agreement of 16,000 yuan per vehicle for another three years

https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20210527A01ORB00

about the author:

Luo Yuchao, founder of Yunti Technology, former NIO software quality engineer and tool chain engineer.