Gasgoo Munich- On May 28, NIO CEO Li Bin revealed rising raw material prices—including nickel, cobalt, and lithium carbonate—have added more than 10,000 yuan to the cost of each vehicle so far this year. Li made the remarks during a media roundtable.
Li noted that commodities and memory chips impact sectors far wealthier and faster-growing than automotive, leaving carmakers with little bargaining power. Memory prices have yet to retreat after climbing this year, and raw material costs are unlikely to ease in the short term—forcing automakers to absorb the pressure internally.
Image Source: NIO
Earlier, on April 11, Li told a high-level forum on intelligent electric vehicles that the auto sector is grappling with mounting profitability pressures.
Accelerated product cycles are making it harder to balance supply and demand, Li said, noting that batteries and chips now account for more than 50% of total vehicle costs. Standardizing batteries and unifying chip specifications could unlock over 100 billion yuan in savings across the industry.
Li broke down the core challenges facing the intelligent EV sector. Faster product iteration is directly complicating supply-demand equilibrium, he argued. Meanwhile, batteries and chips have come to dominate the cost structure, consuming more than half of a smart EV's total price tag.
