You can buy two China-made NIO ES8 E-SUVs at the price of a Tesla Model X

Looks like Elon Musk’s Tesla is going to have some tough competition in the electric vehicles industry. Chinese startup  NIO on 19 December unveiled its 7-seater E-SUV called ES8 for nearly half the price of a traditional Tesla Model X SUV. [caption id=“attachment_4265789” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] NIO ES8. Image Credits: NIO[/caption] The event was held in Beijing and the price of the ES8 is CNY 448,000, which roughly translates into $67,775. The **Model X** from Tesla, on the other hand, sells for $127,000 in China. “We hope that we can have more people interested in smart electric vehicles by presenting ultimate products and services, and then we can achieve our vision of bringing back blue skies.” NIO Founder and Chairman, William Li, said at the inaugural NIO Day. “NIO wants people to enjoy owning a car again and aspires to redefine the experience of owning a car. The ES8 launch is another beginning for NIO.” [caption id=“attachment_4265797” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] NIO ES8. Image Credits: NIO[/caption] The car can reportedly give the user up to 500 km on a single charge as compared to approximately 450 km on the Model X. The ES8 can accelerate to 100 kilometers per hour in 4.4 seconds. The ES8 has two motors, which give out a 480 KW of power. The car is also equipped with NOMI, an artificial intelligence system and Mobileye NV’s EyeQ4 chip which will rely on five cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and five radars. The combo helps in adjusting car temperature, communicating with driver, lane change alert etc. The ES8 can be charged in 3 minutes at a power-swap station by swapping out batteries. There is also the option of using ‘Power Mobile’ service vehicles which will travel to the user of the car. NIO has claimed that it plans to have 1,100 power-swap stations in China by 2020 and also provide up to 1,200 ‘Power Mobile’ service vehicles. [caption id=“attachment_4265801” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] NIO ES8. Image Credits: NIO[/caption] NIO, a relatively new company, was launched back in 2014 and already has a backing from Tencent, Baidu among others after it closed a deal of $1 billion in funding according to The Verge. The company may also be planning to bring the car to the United States by 2020.