William Li, serial entrepreneur and founder of oft-touted Tesla-killer Nio, lost more than $1 billion in net worth this year. His company, the five-year-old poster child of China’s troubled electric vehicle (EV) industry, hasn’t gotten off so lightly.

Nio went public in the US to much fanfare last year. Hubris over the company’s future dominated the second half of 2018. It’s no surprise: Nio began pre-orders for its second SUV, the ES6, in December. It also delivered a record number of its flagship vehicle, the ES8, in the last quarter of the year.

But the honeymoon phase ended as quickly as it began. The company’s share price plummeted more than 75% between March and June of this year. The decline resulted from flagging sales, a slew of investor lawsuits, and a spate of battery defects.

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