Shen Fei (President Onvo) “EREV with large batteries are a a waste of resources”

Shen Fei, Nio‘s Senior Vice President and CEO of its Onvo brand, said in an interview with local media yesterday that given the increasingly mature charging infrastructure, large-capacity battery range extension represents “a significant waste of resources”. This combination not only occupies more interior space but also imposes unnecessary cost burdens on automakers and consumers with the additional 15,000 yuan ($2,120) per range extender, Shen said 

As more Chinese automakers promote large-capacity battery packs as a selling point for their extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), Shen Fei, Nio‘s Senior Vice President and CEO of its Onvo brand holds a different view. 

With charging infrastructure increasingly developed, EREVs with large battery packs represent "a waste of resources," Shen said in an interview with local media yesterday, Not only do these systems occupy valuable cabin space, but the range extender unit itself, which adds an extra 15,000 yuan ($2,120) to the cost, also creates an unnecessary financial burden for both manufacturers and consumers. 

Shen criticised this approach as wasteful in an era of improving charging infrastructure, adding that making batteries and fuel tanks larger represents incremental innovation. Most surprisingly, Shen revealed that approximately 40% of Onvo L90 owners, which comes standard with an 85 kWh battery, voluntarily downgrade to 60 kWh batteries under the company’s Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) program. This not only saves customers 3,600 yuan ($504) in annual rental fees but also reflects diminishing range anxiety as charging infrastructure improves. 

Onvo currently offers two models -- the L60 and L90 -- with the L60 coming standard with a 60-kWh battery pack and the L90 equipped with an 85-kWh pack. Onvo allows owners flexible upgrades to larger battery packs or downgrades to smaller ones via battery swap stations. 

During the interview, Shen also explained why Onvo is doubling the number of battery packs in swap stations, saying this aims to enhance user experience and offset the negative impact of trade-in subsidy withdrawal on sales. On December 5, Onvo announced it would deploy over 8,000 new battery packs in battery swap stations available to its cars, with completion expected by mid-January 2026. Currently, Onvo has access to 2,300 Nio battery swap stations, housing about 7,000 battery packs. 

When questioned about the financial viability of this massive investment for Nio, which is pushing toward break-even in Q4, Shen provided a compelling economic rationale. The company plans to capitalise on peak-valley electricity price differences, potentially generating substantial returns on each battery. “In regions like Zhejiang, each battery in our swap stations can earn approximately 1.2 yuan ($0.17) per kilowatt-hour in price differentials,” Shen explained. “With an average usable capacity of 50 kWh per battery, under reasonable conditions, that translates to 60 yuan ($8.4) daily or roughly 20,000 yuan ($2,800) in annual profit per battery.” He added that nationwide, the figure averages between 12,000 to 13,000 yuan ($1,680 to $1,820), making the investment highly profitable over a battery’s lifecycle.