Heavy Chinese subsidies on electric cars are starting to show their benefits. A Chinese company, NIO, has released its first mass-produced model over the weekend, an SUV meant to challenge the Tesla Model X at half the price.

A few months ago, China announced that it would eventually want to wean itself off selling new combustible engines. The country has begun working towards this goal through helping electric car companies, offering subsidies as significant as $15,000 per vehicle. The SUV, named the ES8, is going for 448,000 Chinese yuan ($67,765). That's half the Tesla Model X Chinese starting price of 836,000 yuan ($126,470).

"It's hard to assume" that this will affect Tesla's sales in China, NIO founder William Li tells CNBC. "Maybe Tesla will sell less...after our product is out. Or probably, because the whole market is growing, they will still maintain growth in sales. It's hard to say."



The ES8’s interior. NIO/Business Wire

The ES8, available only in China, is an electric seven-seater that can hit 62 mph in 4.4 seconds. It further earns its Tesla comparisons through a driver assistance system that features 23 sensors, including a trifocal front-facing camera, four surround exterior cameras, five millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors and a driver monitor camera. The ES8 also features NOMI, an in-car AI system. NOMI can adjust the ES8's temperature, communicate with the driver, and even takes photos.

The ES8 takes 3 minutes to charge at a NIO power station, the company also offers service vehicles that drive around offering to power customers cars. The Shanghai-based company, founded in 2014, has also taken to improving Chinese infrastructure with plans to build 1,100 power-swap stations in China by 2020. Li says that a battery-swap station can be built in less than a day.

Speaking at a self-proclaimed "NIO Day" celebration, after the band Imagine Dragons played for 10,000 people, Li explained how important the ES8 could be to the company's continued growth.

"NIO wants people to enjoy owning a car again and aspires to redefine the experience of owning a car. The ES8 launch is another beginning for NIO."

Source: CNBC

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