Nio will host an official launch event in Europe in September or early October with founder, chairman and CEO William Li attending in person, according to Edison Yu's team.

(Image credit: Nio)

Nio's first ET7 electric vehicles (EVs) sent to Europe have set sail, and its helmsman is visiting the United States. To Deutsche Bank, these moves are examples of the company's overseas expansion charging forward.

"With most investors laser focused on weekly/monthly sales in China, we take a break from that and provide a brief update on recent developments that show Nio pushing forward overseas which we think is an underappreciated aspect of Nio's long term growth prospects," Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu's team said in a research note sent to investors today.

Earlier today, Nio announced that the first batch of ET7 sedans had been loaded at a port in China and was on its way to Europe. The model will be available for pre-order for consumers in countries including Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and deliveries will begin this year.

The launch vehicle for these markets will be the flagship ET7 fullsize sedan and the smaller ET5 mid-size sedan will arrive in Spring next year, Yu's team noted.

Nio will host an official launch event in Europe in September or early October, with founder, chairman and CEO William Li attending in person, according to Yu's team.

"We certainly don't expect meaningful volume contribution anytime soon as management is very focused on organic brand building but note in Norway YTD, Nio has sold nearly 600 ES8 SUVs, putting it slightly behind Mercedes Benz EQB and BMW IX3," the team wrote.

Nio will be integrating its battery swap station technology locally, having recently opened a second station in Norway, the team noted.

In a more under-the-radar development, Li actually visited Nio's US headquarters in San Jose in recent weeks and was seen in downtown San Francisco looking at potential locations for Nio's first US store, according to the team.

Nio has previously said it will be in the US by 2025. The company currently has at least four test vehicles there and plans to install a battery swap station later this year.

"Normally, we wouldn't read too much into a visit but given the burden of having to quarantine after returning to China, we suspect the CEO's visit involved more than just a courtesy greeting and checking out property," Yu's team wrote.

The team believes that perhaps Nio's desire to enter the US may be far greater than it appears, especially given how competitive the domestic market in China is becoming.

While geopolitics is certainly a risk, battery maker CATL's reported decision to build a multibillion-dollar plant in North America to supply Tesla and Ford with cells is encouraging, the team said.

Although CATL's official announcement for the plant was delayed because of recent US-China tensions, it doesn't appear to have been canceled, which would support the notion that the two countries have the potential to work together on electric vehicles even in the context of political tensions, according to Yu's team.

First batch of Nio ET7 sedans leave China port for Europe