HEIFEI, China — Few automakers better embody the "try something new" spirit of China's mobility boom than Nio, the electric vehicle startup that boasts swappable batteries; a cutesy, animated, dash-mounted digital assistant; online-only sales; and stomach-clenching acceleration.
It is often billed as China's wannabe Tesla, although few Americans have heard of the company. Nio already has hundreds of mobile recharging vans on standby throughout China's biggest cities and operates a network of battery-swapping stations and fast chargers dotting the nation's highways and byways.