Shanghai (ZXZC)- NIO plans to launch its first sedan model at the forthcoming NIO Day to be held on Jan. 9, 2021, according to Qin Lihong, co-founder and president at NIO.

The development of the yet-to-be-launched sedan is reportedly grounded on the NIO ET Preview, the first concept in NIO’s sedan series making its debut at Auto China 2019.

As for the powertrain solution, the upcoming model is likely to be driven by two electric motors at the front and rear axles with a combined output of 400kW, and carry a four-wheel drive system, according to a local media report. It may feature a range of over 450km and do 0-100km/h acceleration within 4.7 seconds.

According to Mr. Qin, NIO will launch the 150kWh battery, the NT2.0 autonomous driving platform and its second-generation battery swapping station at the NIO Day.

The next-generation battery swapping station will involve lower construction cost and contain more batteries than that of the existing one. NIO said it will speed up the deployment of battery swapping stations next year with nearly one new station added per day.

On November 6, Chinese EV startup NIO launched its 100kWh battery pack that is able to provide a NEDC range of up to 615km for NIO models.

With over 300 patents filed and gained, the 100kWh battery features the CTP (cell-to-pack) technology jointly developed with CATL, which helps achieve 37% higher energy density, according to NIO. Thanks to the thermal propagation prevention design, the newly-launched battery realizes better thermal runaway management. Besides, the highly integrated design can streamline the manufacturing process by 40% and improves space utilization by 19.8%, and the all-climate thermal management can improve performance and extends the service life of the battery.