NIO CEO: Plugin Vehicles 90% of Chinese Auto Market in 2030

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NIO just hit another notable milestone. Its Onvo L60 already surpassed 100,000 cumulative deliveries. However, the bigger NIO news of the week was NIO CEO, chairman, and founder William Li saying that he thinks the Chinese auto market will exceed 90% new energy vehicle (plugin vehicle) sales by 2030.

90% New Energy Vehicles, 90% BEVs

Considering the country just hit 63% plugin vehicle share last month, that 90% forecast really isn’t shocking at all, but it’s still a big statement from a major CEO in the industry. Also, keep in mind that the Chinese auto market is by far the largest in the world. Auto sales in China accounted for 35.6% of the world’s auto sales last year — 34.35 million vehicles out of 96.47 million.

Also, here’s a big kicker: Li also said that he expects China’s NEV market to be 90% BEVs by 2030. So, he sees BEVs accounting for the vast majority of Chinese auto sales. Note that while some other Chinese auto companies that started out as pure BEV companies have loosened up and started offering plugin hybrids as well, NIO has stuck to its mission and values and sells only pure BEVs.

Li made these statements today at the 2026 Nio Partner Day event. He noted that rapid technological progress in full-stack technology for pure-electric vehicles, in charging and battery swapping, and in energy structure is why he sees these milestones being reached.

Initial Onvo Model Reaches 100,000 Sales

Back to the Onvo L60, the vehicle reached 100,000 cumulative deliveries today. Deliveries of the model began in September 2024. It was the first Onvo model, and an update to the model already came through earlier this month. Th updated version came with a price cut of almost 7%. “The new model comes in three versions — Pro, Max+ and Ultra+ — priced at 192,800 yuan, 202,800 yuan and 222,800 yuan respectively for full-vehicle purchase,” CnEVPost shares. “Under the BaaS (battery as a service) battery rental scheme, the starting prices of the three versions drop to 135,800 yuan, 145,800 yuan and 165,800 yuan respectively.”

Here’s a key part of the update, though: “The biggest highlight of the updated L60 is that it is the first to feature Nio’s in-house developed 5-nanometer automotive-grade smart driving chip, the Shenji NX9031. The chip is used in the Max+ and Ultra+ versions and, combined with the Nio World Model (NWM) architecture, supports point-to-point navigation-assisted driving.”

NIO Day 2026 City Bidding & Voting

As a final point of news from NIO, the company launched a bidding process to identify the host city of NIO Day 2026. The NIO community will vote to select the winner. “The bidding will be led by city car owner clubs. If a city has multiple clubs, they will submit a joint bid,” CnEVPost shares.

“Candidate cities must also meet several other conditions, covering venue, area and hosting history. A candidate city must not have hosted Nio Day in the past eight years, and the effective outdoor area for the charity market must be no less than 25,000 square meters. In terms of the venue, it must be equipped with facilities meeting the hardware requirements for large-scale performances, with indoor venues preferred. After the stage and screens are set up, the venue must seat no fewer than 8,000 people.”

After full evaluation of the submitted bids, a committee will select three candidate cities for NIO community members to vote on. It really is quite a fun company, isn’t it?