Overview
Let’s hop on the NIO train on early Saturday morning. NIO recently had the long-awaited NIO day where they release few juices (refer below) to put them in a position that I believe is a strong competitor in the EV space. EV, an abbreviation for an electric vehicle and one of the famous keyword searches in google, will be disrupting the future of cars. Can you imagine watching Fast & Furious 11 with all EV cars? I am not a big fan of EV because I love the V6 and V8 turbo engines; however, at some point, I see the obligation to be part of the change for a better world. We do that for the next generation!
NIO Inc. is a pioneer in China’s premium electric vehicle market. The company jointly manufactures and sells smart and connected premium electric vehicles, driving innovations in next-generation technologies in connectivity, autonomous driving, and artificial intelligence.
The JUICE
We have a lot of EV players on the market now. As a consumer, the responsibility is to study the market and find the one that disrupts the industry with the latest cutting edge technology. When it comes to EV, the future leader should be the winner of the following categories:
1) Battery Range
NIO unveiled today that their new solid-state battery improves energy density by 50%. That’s a vast improvement, and the new line up models claimed to get more than 850km (approximately 500 miles). You can drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles with a full battery! That’s freaking awesome because you still have few miles left to roam around Santa Monica beach with your BAE!.
2) Power Swap Station
The problem that I have with EV cars right now is the charging time. Today, NIO introduced a Power Swap station where you can do a battery swap in 3 minutes*, faster than refueling. Think of it as a gas station, but instead of recharging your battery, you do a fully automatic battery swap.
Nio still provides the power charger at home, and the power swap station is an excellent solution for fun road trips!.
3) Autonomous Driving
NIO unveiled the Nio Autonomous Driving (NAD), featuring the Aquila Nio Super Sensing System with ultra-long-range, high-resolution LiDAR equipped with the 8-megapixel camera to assist in autonomous driving. During the presentation, the CEO discussed the importance of a higher megapixel camera to capture distant objects for recourse actions. Tesla has been leading its competitors in this space; however, NIO may not be far behind with the upgraded technology. NIO also launched ADAM, which is claimed to be the most powerful mobile processing system in a production vehicle. ADAM is equipped with four NVIDIA Orin SoCs and boasts 1,016 TOPS in computing power. No idea what that means, but I know for sure that NVIDIA is pretty much the gold standard in its industry. Hats off to NIO for collaborating with NVIDIA.
Furthermore, NIO aspires to shape a joyful lifestyle for its users. Apart from the EV lineup, NIO is also exploring other areas to be more appealing and attractive to their customers. NIO offers perks like exclusive clubhouses (NIO House), a cross between a coworking space, a cafe, and an event space. In addition to that, NIO collaborates with over 500 independent designers and world-class design institutes from the UK, Italy, Northern Europe, and Asia to increase brand awareness. In 2019, NIO and the renowned designer Benjamin Hubert launched NIO Pal: a smart scooter concept through NIO Life’s brand.
Technical Valuation
As of January 2021, NIO delivered 43k vehicles in 2020 in total, increasing by 112%. Analysts offering 12-month price prediction have a median target of $327 from the last price of $59. That is approximately 400% upside potential. To top that, the current consensus among 15 polled investment analysts also recommend a buy for this company. NIO market cap is around 75B with 52 WH at $59 and 52 WL at $2. It’s crazy to think about that range and how parabolic the stock can be. Remember, everything that goes up will come down. Any seasoned investor would already know this, so keep monitoring and doing your due diligence before jumping in. I love the cutting edge technology development in this space, but I am still a fan of Naturally Aspirated Engines.
As usual, I am not a financial advisor, and this is not advisable for you to start dwelling on stock trading. The thought process above is solely to validate my understanding before purchasing any equity. I am still learning the process of evaluating and identifying opportunities in the stock market. By doing this, I am creating a structure for my brain to follow and not be an impulsive buyer or act emotionally when the market is against me. It is a journey I thought of worth sharing with any interested audience.