Li Yinan and His Niutron EV

Author: Lingfang Wang

Li Yinan has finally appeared with his “Niutron” electric vehicle (EV). He has been working on producing cars intermittently for three years, while also receiving media attention during this period. On December 15th, the new energy automotive company, NiuChuangXin, arranged 50 chairs for the media in a small meeting room located in Changzhou’s base. The meeting room’s left side had uncovered sample cars and models.

Li Yinan, wearing casual business attire, appeared in the meeting room and introduced himself straightforwardly, saying, “I won’t introduce myself. My name is Li Yinan.” As the founder of NiuChuangXin, he introduced the company’s sub-brand, “Zi You Jia” in Chinese and “Niutron” in English. Their first Niutron EV, the “Zi You Jia NV,” will be available for pre-order in the first half of 2022 and available for delivery in September of that year.

Li Yinan answered media questions with frankness and directness, yet he was not cooperative with many of them, nor could he explain them very clearly. You can see the shadow of Musk’s “first principle” advocacy and Li Xiang’s advocating to “do the right things” in his words, though he learns from many people, he is not like anyone else.

Legendary Founder

When people intend to create cars, having a legendary founder appears to be half of their success. Musk, Li Bin, Li Xiang, and He XPeng all seem to be like this. Serial entrepreneurs all have a brilliant record of success and are easy to gain the favor of capital and media.

Li Yinan is a legendary figure in the business circle, with many labels under his name, such as “genius teenager,” “technology wizard,” “successor to Ren Zhengfei,” and “former CEO of XiaoNiu EV.” Each label itself is a topic.

The impression he made during the press conference was humble, introverted, and unique, quite unlike Li Bin and Li Xiang’s confident, outgoing personalities.

Details illustrating this included:

• Every media person’s mobile phones were placed in sealed bags outside of the conference room, making it impossible to take any photos of the event, the cars, or Li Yinan. Some media were refused to use Li’s personal photos for promotion purposes, as Li refused to release any.
• During the interview section, Li Yinan responded directly with “I can’t say” and “I haven’t thought of it” to questions he was not ready for or unwilling to answer.

Perhaps it was his innate personality that showed Li Yinan is a straightforward, frank, and concise person throughout the interview. When asked about the best timing to produce cars, he candidly stated that he believed it was impossible for him to raise $3 billion to produce vehicles in 2014, but he thinks he has a high probability of achieving that funding now.For car manufacturing, Li Yinan also holds an exploratory attitude. “We won’t do it just because an investor says it’s possible, nor will we give up just because someone doesn’t invest in us. I think we should give it a try. We are not the first to explore, but at least we should explore it and try our best to do it well and see the results.”

Perhaps due to the deep roots with Huawei, Li Yinan’s statement vaguely reflects the shadow of Huawei’s “Bird Theory.”

Huawei’s “Bird Theory” is to shoot once and see if there are any birds. If there are birds, then shoot again. Huawei is exploring and gradually discovering good opportunities in the process, and then starting a comprehensive attack.

Exploration is reflected in many aspects, such as the company’s values and product style.

Li Yinan seems to be exploring, observing the market’s response, and then adjusting strategies and deployment.

“Electricity instead of oil” and “The first model does not come with LIDAR”

Li Yinan’s philosophy of car making ultimately needs to be reflected in the car itself.

Although photos cannot be taken, the NV’s design is impressive.

The dual circular daytime running lights are connected by a dynamic LED headlight that runs through the middle, and a dynamic charging indicator light is embedded in the C-pillar. Yang Jingyi, the CEO of the Zheyoyu Automobile, said that they spent a lot of effort refining this light strip and will introduce more experiences of similar details.

The rear of the car also features an LED taillight that runs through it, and the upper part uses a one-piece volcanic shape composed of a rear spoiler and two side wind wings. The rear wiper is embedded in the rear spoiler to ensure the overall design integrity while reducing wind resistance.

Li Yinan’s personality is also reflected in the product, not being defined by external factors and doing their own thing. For example, the technology route is to choose pure electric and extended range parallel, not equipped with LIDAR, and not self-developing autonomous driving, with no clear target customers.

(1) Pure electric and extended-range parallel

Zheyoyu Automobile adopts the direction of parallel development of pure electric BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) and extended-range electric EREV (Extended-Range Electric Vehicle), focusing on product development, and has developed the Gemini Twin Platform. Based on this platform, Zheyoyu’s first product, the NV, is positioned as a mid-to-large-sized high-end SUV, offering two powertrains for users to choose from to meet different needs for intercity long-distance and daily commuting.

Li Yinan jokingly calls the extended-range style “Electricity instead of Oil”. He said that from the very beginning, they were very clear that the extended-range car was designed as an electric car, whether it was platform architecture, exterior design, or interior design.”We don’t have large front air intakes, and the rear exhaust pipe is completely hidden; it can’t be seen even 8 meters away,” admitted Li Yinan, who acknowledged that their choice to extend the range of their electric vehicles was a compromise based on reality.

As a high-end model slated for production in 2022, Li Yinan’s first self-owned brand vehicle, the “Ziyoujia NV,” does not come equipped with a lidar system.

In Li Yinan’s view, artificial intelligence technology has brought a revolutionary change to the automotive industry, but this technology still needs a considerable amount of time to evolve. He believes that the advent of new technology must be based on improving the user experience and ensuring absolute safety.

Li Yinan stated that there were multiple reasons why they chose not to equip the NV with a lidar, and that he did not want to explain each reason, only that he believed it was a good choice for them at this stage.

As for autonomous driving, Ziyoujia uses its defined product, and suppliers provide technical development, while they pursued self-research in the intelligent cockpit area.

Regarding the many car companies striving for the full-stack self-research of autonomous driving, Li Yinan did not respond directly, but instead gave an example.

Li Yinan suggested that the question was similar to solving a math problem in high school, where there are multiple solutions to reach one conclusion. There is no uniquely correct route or method for autonomous driving within the industry, as many companies work hard to develop it. At least 20 companies in China have received over $400 million in funding to work on this issue.

In terms of targeting customers, Li Yinan stated, “I don’t want to define our target group or age range, nor do we want to compare ourselves with anyone else.” Instead, he believed that their main concern was whether the majority of users could own and take pride in their products, not competing with others.

Regarding their decision to position their SUV as a 5-seater rather than a 6- or 7-seater, Li Yinan said that this was their current capacity, and they hoped to provide customers with a comfortable and relaxed feeling. “If you have three children, you may not be suitable for us unless you have multiple cars. If our car is your only vehicle, we may not be able to meet your requirements. We also do not intend to try to meet everyone’s requirements.”

According to Li Yinan, they actually started building cars three years ago, with the project beginning in November 2018.

In October 2020, Changzhou Niuchuang Technology Co., Ltd. completed its registration, with Yang Jingyi serving as the legal representative.The brand headquarters of NIO New Energy is located in Beijing, with a research and development center set up in Shanghai and a research and intelligent manufacturing base in Changzhou. NIO has completed a Series A financing of $500 million, with investments from global renowned institutions such as IDG and Coatue.

NIO’s modern intelligent manufacturing base in Changzhou covers an area of 770,000 square meters, transformed from the factory of the former Dayun Automobile, with an overall design capacity of 180,000 units/year, with a maximum capacity of up to 200,000 vehicles. The factory includes four main workshops: stamping, welding, painting, and final assembly. Currently, pre-production transformation and calibration are underway, and it will be put into use in March 2022.

According to Li Yinan’s report, the NIO team is still mainly focused on research and development, with approximately 1,000 people coming from mainstream top-tier domestic and international automotive companies, with an average working experience of more than 10 years. In addition, he did not reveal more team information, and there is almost no information online about the company’s CEO, Yang Jingyi.

Despite NIO’s public debut, there is still a sense of mystery, and Li Yinan also stated that product information will be gradually disclosed in the coming months. As for whether Li Yinan, who has experienced ups and downs, can create another brilliant chapter in his life, he seems somewhat indifferent to the outcome. When someone asked him what would happen if NIO failed, he said, “At least we will settle our suppliers’ debts and employee salaries.”

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.