Interesting Nio Sustainability Score
To get a clear image of what the sustainability score of Nio as an electric vehicle company is, we have decided to score five categories with a rating scale from 1 up to 10. The six categories will be looking at personal values matched, manufacturing, maintenance, services, Nios house & lifestyle, and the effect they have on sustainability by being on the stock exchanges where people can publicly trade shares of the company.
Sustainability Score on Personal Values Matched
As Nio is an electric car, it meets the personal values of individuals that do not want to drive or be in a fossil fuel car. People that choose an electric vehicle tend to want to live a more sustainable lifestyle, and as Nio strives to become more sustainable it keeps attracting more people. It also attracts and matches people’s values with their sustainable inspired and driven Nio houses and Formula E races where people can enjoy fast premium races without all the bad gasses.
Some people may deter from Nio as they use premium Nappa leather for their vehicles, however, it is more as a perspective that real leather is less ethical and less sustainable. However, there is a constant discussion that fake leather may be less sustainable as it requires more resources to produces and lasts less long. However you can still question the ethical side of things as an animal still has to die to obtain premium leather.
We will be giving a sustainability score based on perceived value, factors previously mentioned and demand of people. Seeing that demand for electric vehicles is growing and is expected to grow at a rate that all cars sold will be electric by 2060. Also looking at that they are less pollutant than fossil-fueled vehicles, it can get a score of 8/10.
Nio-Jac Hefei factory
Sustainability Score on Manufacturing
Because of the nature of Nio’s current situation where they have over 190 suppliers and different partners along with a joint manufacturing facility with JAC, we give Nio a lower sustainability score. This lower score is mainly caused by transparency and the level of control Nio has on a sustainability level of their incoming supplies. Even though the suppliers we have had a closer look at seem to be reasonably ethical and sustainable with plans of becoming more sustainable, we give Nio a score of 7/10 as a manufacturing score, which gives a lot of room for improvement.
Sustainability Score on Maintainance and Services
Because of the nature of electric vehicles, Nio already gets a reasonably high score on maintenance. Fewer parts replacements, fluids and mechanical maintenance are required for electric vehicles making them more reliable, efficient and cheaper long term.
Especially with Nio’s partners and suppliers being the most or one of the most sustainable companies in their industry, it only boosts the score even more. The supplier that Nio uses for its aluminium is the worlds largest aluminium recycler and is, therefore, one of the most sustainable aluminium producers, making replacement parts in case of an accident more sustainable.
Also, the battery supplier they use is known for their sustainable activities of using renewable resources and energy storage, they are also one of the most sustainable battery providers in the world due to their innovative battery recycling facilities.
The batteries on Nio are easily replaceable within 3 minutes thanks to their battery swapping facilities, which makes the recycling process for Nio more efficient and sustainable. Nio also gives customers the option to buy their cars without owning a battery, meaning you only rent a battery for the time and distance you need it, giving Nio more control of the battery and how it gets handled. They can manage their batteries better, and spot deteriorating signs earlier than other brands and can recycle these easier without having to dismantle or take the whole car into custody.
Even their service cars are currently run by electric energy, which is a bonus for customers and the environment. This gives Nio a sustainability score of 9/10 as there is always room for improvement.
Nio Power on-the-road service
Sustainability Score on Nio houses and Lifestyle
There is no information found on how the Nio houses were built and from what materials, so we are going to be judging it by what value they give to sustainability as a whole. Nio houses do provide a sustainable rich environment where people with common goals and mindset come together as they are all a part of an electric vehicle.
They can inform and network with each other about a sustainable lifestyle and sustainability, because children are welcomed there as well and there are libraries, it is a sustainability education hotspot. With the Nio house and their clothing line, Nio is forming a sustainable lifestyle, which gives them a sustainable score of 10/10. Education, network and especially teaching the youth about sustainability is priceless.
Nio Stock chart 5 year (29-October-2020)
Sustainability Score on Being Publicly Traded
If Nio was not publicly traded, the chances of me writing this report would have been smaller. They are making a name for themselves making premium quality electric vehicles for a fair price capable of swapping batteries in 3 minutes, they have a supercar that has broken records and they are part of one of the most popular and fastest-growing sports, the Formula E races.
Thus, it can be concluded that Nio would have been noticed without being publicly trader, however, one cannot deny that being publicly traded has been positively tremendous for Nio aside from raising initial capital.
Because Nio is being publicly traded on different stock exchanges around the world, it has gain practically free marketing. Because it is even being compared with Tesla, and because it has been tested by people around the world and because people can actually what customers are saying their Nio app (which is possible to download in the apple app store) it has gained respect from the world for being a respectable company.
The world has been seeing Chinese made cars as ‘’cheap’’ and ‘’bad’’, but Nio is reshaping this image to a positive one, allowing it to also easily enter into a global market for selling its electric vehicles. It may also be since the Nio founder is relatively young, relatable, engages with the community and knows what he is doing as he has more than 20 years of business experience around this industry.
Nio being publicly traded has caused the company to be heavily analyzed and talked about, all of which Nio can use as feedback to better their product and services. The sustainability of the product hereby also gets heavily analyzed thus motivating the company to constantly improve.
Looking at these aspects mentioned above, we give this category a rating of 9/10.
Looking at the sustainability scores, we get an average of 8.6 out of 10 as a sustainability score for Nio, which closely relates to the ESG rating Nio received on msci.com. Nio received a rating of Average on the higher level with an A from MSCI, which is approximately an 8 on the ESG scoring. (MSCI Inc, 2020)
If you liked this blog post you might also like our recent blog post about Nio Stakeholders.
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