NIO (09866) Li Bin: Standardization of battery cells and normalization of chips will provide the industry with an opportunity to reduce costs by over 100 billion yuan.

On April 11th, William Li, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of NIO (09866), called for industry collaboration to promote standardization of battery cells and normalization of chips in the development of intelligent electric vehicles at the High-level Forum on Intelligent Electric Vehicle Development 2026. Li believes that this will significantly improve industry efficiency and profitability, providing the industry with over 100 billion yuan in cost reduction opportunities. Li stated that the pace of technological iteration in intelligent electric vehicles far exceeds that of traditional fuel vehicles, with multiple iterations required for chips, batteries, and overall vehicle configuration. This exacerbates the supply-demand imbalance, as production capacity and market demand rhythms are difficult to match. New vehicle sales cycles are short, leading to the risk of falling into a "new car effect death valley," and the whole industry faces the common problem of increased production without increased revenue and profitability. Battery and chip costs account for over 50% of the overall vehicle cost, and the lack of uniform battery cell specifications and a variety of chip types result in resource waste, severely hindering cost efficiency, market responsiveness, and long-term competitiveness for businesses. Li believes that promoting battery cell standardization and chip type normalization will improve industry efficiency and profitability, offering the industry over 100 billion yuan in cost-saving opportunities. As the physical structures of most suitable batteries like lithium iron phosphate, medium-nickel ternary, and high-nickel ternary have largely converged, battery cell standardization becomes feasible. Li also suggested that relevant departments quickly organize automotive companies to achieve chip type normalization, increasing the use of standardized chips per vehicle. This will not only help improve the supply efficiency of key components for intelligent electric vehicles and address product fluctuations but is also a necessary step to increase localization rates.