In 2010, there were only around 17,000 electric cars on the world’s roads. By 2019, that number had swelled to 7.2 million, almost half of which were in China – the world’s largest automobile market. For China, electric vehicles (EVs) are one of 10 commercial sectors central to the government’s “Made in China” effort to boost advanced industrial technology. The government will provide billions of dollars to subsidize the manufacturing of EVs and batteries, and encouraging businesses and consumers to buy them.
Not only does China’s EV industry play to the government’s national ambitions, it’s also helping to solve some of the nation’s most pressing energy and environmental concerns as China continues to tackle high air pollution in its major cities and reduce its climate change emissions.
One of the leaders in China’s fledgling electric car industry is NIO, whose ambition is to make EVs the natural choice for everyone, leading to a more sustainable tomorrow. Hence the start-up’s Chinese name: Weilei, which translates as ‘blue sky coming.’
Since 2014, the company has been building a new generation of electric road cars that deliver superior performance and unique user experiences, backed by a vision to help consumers rediscover the ‘joyful lifestyle’ of car ownership. The company primarily serves the Chinese market, but from the very beginning has been committed to expanding its global reach. They needed a strong technology platform to support its growth. NIO decided on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform as the foundation for its enterprise-wide research and development activities.
Before implementing the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, NIO’s designers and engineers worked in siloes, focused only on their local product development activities. Now they all work collaboratively on a truly global development platform, which manages the company’s entire product development lifecycle, ensuring digital continuity, data integrity and effective change management at every stage of the process.
Crucially, NIO was able to move from concept to launch of its ES8 model in just three years, thanks to enhanced collaboration between its global teams and partners on the platform. With completely integrated design and manufacturing processes and accurate data, NIO can now focus on innovation as it continues to scale its business.
“The 3DEXPERIENCE platform drives our users’ creativity and promotes innovation by allowing them to work in 3D,” said Longyun Zou, associate director, digital engineering team & expert at NIO. “Having a single product design platform, coupled with synchronized engineering, significantly accelerates product design. This strong technology support certainly helped to accelerate the ES8’s time to market.”
Want to discover more about how NIO is taking advantage of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to accelerate product development and grow its global presence? Watch the videos below or read the detailed case study.
