William Li’s remark is indeed worth industry reflection. However, the current reality is that large batteries and long range remain among the most intuitive and persuasive hard metrics for users when placing orders.
Recently, during a livestream at NIO’s Factory Two in Hefei, facing nearly a hundred entrepreneurs and financial writer Wu Xiaobo, NIO founder William Li made a remark that could be considered “inopportune” in EV circles when discussing range: “The larger the battery, the more damage it does to roads.”
At a time when most automakers are still promoting “bigger battery, longer range” as a marketing point, William Li’s words were like a bucket of cold water on the industry.
“To prolong a smartphone’s battery life, the solution is simple—just make the battery bigger, but then the phone turns into a brick. Cars are the same. People are crazily putting more and more battery into EVs, and sure, the range numbers look great, but the vehicle weight soars, safety risks rise, and more importantly, road damage intensifies.” William Li cited this example.
Globally, many countries impose weight taxes on heavy vehicles because the heavier the vehicle, the greater the wear and tear it inflicts on roads and bridges. But NEVs, in pursuit of longer range, have kept adding battery capacity, increasing vehicle weight as a result.
Take the Zeekr 007’s 100 kWh ternary lithium battery as an example: it weighs around 596 kg—well over half a ton. Larger batteries not only increase vehicle weight and material costs, but also indirectly reduce charging efficiency, accelerate tire wear, and hasten infrastructure degradation.
From William Li’s perspective, cautioning against single-minded “range breakthroughs” makes sense. Instead of blindly enlarging battery packs, it may be better to improve battery energy density, build out charging and battery-swap networks, and treat “car” and “battery” as separate cost entities—using battery swapping to alleviate range anxiety. To many, this sounds like a more systematic and sustainable solution.
Yet, on the other side of the coin lie the disadvantages of smaller batteries, which are also real.
For NIO users, battery swapping is indeed convenient—but the vehicle’s own range is not outstanding. Even with a nationwide battery-swap network, frequent long-distance travel or sudden swapping needs are still not always seamless.
From industry trends, it’s clear: large batteries and long range remain among the most straightforward and most persuasive hard metrics for consumers at purchase time.
For example, with recently launched models: Leapmotor and XPeng, and even Xiaomi, have priced their long-range trims very competitively—Leapmotor B01 presale around RMB 120,000 ($16,400), CLTC range 650 km; XPeng G7 reaches 702 km; Xiaomi YU7 boasted 835 km.
From market feedback, these models are indeed selling well. Consumers use their money to show their stance: “I might not use it frequently, but I can’t do without it.”
So, returning to William Li’s reflection: while the weight, safety risks, and infrastructure wear from oversized batteries are indeed concerns that the industry should heed, this does not mean the large-battery route is wrong.
Until energy density sees revolutionary breakthroughs, there’s no easy shortcut: to achieve long range, you need big batteries; to reduce weight, you need more expensive high-energy-density cells, or more complex charging and swap infrastructure—there’s no path that makes both entirely effortless.
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