The Tesla Model Y is the world’s bestselling vehicle, and although in China the BYD Seagull snuck ahead of it last year, its popularity there has inspired numerous imitators. We’ve just driven the best of these, hailing from private new-energy vehicle maker Nio’s new Onvo subbrand. (That name stands for its mission to take families “on voyage.”) Might the Onvo L60’s electrical architecture innovations coupled with the lure of three-minute battery-swapping end up denting the Model Y’s global sales? And what cool features should automakers selling vehicles in the USA be poaching from the L60 in hopes of doing the same?
How Does Onvo L60 Measure Up to Model Y?
Size-wise, think of the L60 as a Model Y L, measuring 3.1 inches longer on a wheelbase stretched 2.3 inches to add rear-seat space. Back seats are highly prized in China, leading many foreign brands to stretch their rear compartments in this market. Tesla doesn’t stretch the Model Y for the Chinese market, however, so Nio is seizing that opportunity with its Onvo brand. Additionally, given that hardly anyone buys Tesla’s Model Y third-row option in China, Nio didn’t consider it when developing the L60. Although its overall cargo room may be slightly smaller than the Model Y as a result of adding that rear-seat space (directly comparable SAE numbers are not available), and the L60 doesn’t have a frunk, it does feature a deep, frunk-sized well beneath the rear cargo floor (for which Onvo offers a refrigerator accessory). Design-wise, the look of the L60 is Model Y derivative, but it manages to squeak out a slight advantage in both drag coefficient (0.229 vs. 0.236) and frontal area (thanks to narrower tires, smaller frameless side-view mirrors, and that lower height).
What About Power, Torque and Efficiency?
The Onvo L60 bests the Model Y on power when comparing entry, Chinese-market RWD models, 322 to 295 hp, but cedes torque superiority 225 versus 310. Onvo AWD models add an AC induction front motor that boosts output to 456 hp and 325 lb-ft, matching Tesla’s Model Y Performance model on horsepower but trailing Tesla’s two AWD models by 85 and 172 lb-ft in torque, respectively. Factory estimates for 0–62-mph acceleration are 4.6 to 5.9 seconds. (Our AWD Model Y test cars have hit 60 mph in 3.5–4.5 seconds.)
With its aerodynamics advantage, mass parity with the Model Y, and in-house-developed motors on the cutting edge of efficiency, the Onvo L60’s 12.1-kWh/100 km (173.1 mpg-e) rating was poised to beat the Tesla’s 12.9 until the Juniper model showed up achieving 11.9 (176.0 mpg-e—all on the more forgiving Chinese cycle).
Onvo claims another efficiency win, however: Its “sleep mode” monitoring the vehicle draws less power, thanks to an E-Fuse function that can shut down more vehicle systems when parked, and a “Starlight Sentinel” camera monitoring system that uses less power to see in the dark. As a result, Onvo says the L60 only expends 1 kWh over 16 hours of monitoring versus 2–3 kWh for the Tesla.
Comfort Forward
The amount of time Chinese drivers spend on traffic-choked, low-limit urban freeways tends to deemphasize any power and torque deficit while accentuating comfort advantages. Hence Onvo strives to overdeliver in this area. All five seats, including the middle rear, are treated to a 10-layer composite seat structure, including a particularly soft 0.6-inch-thick surface layer atop a 0.8-inch layer of Comf.Pro “cloud comfort” foam, with only stitching—not foam contouring—defining the center rear seat area. The front seats come standard with heating, ventilation, and massage functions, and the passenger side gets a footrest. Or, for peak passenger comfort, pop off the headrest, recline the backrest 180 degrees, and enjoy chaise-lounge seating while belted into the rear. (Note, the driver side reclines similarly, and Onvo sells mattresses and bedding to suit voyages that include camping.)
Onvo claims a few health and comfort advantages for its heat-pump-based HVAC system, as well, which dispenses an “air blanket” from wide vents placed far forward on the dash, and from B-pillar vents in the rear. Its ventilated front seats feature a dual-function design that blows air through the bottom cushions and sucks air in from the backrests to avoid blowing on the waist. Front and rear seat heaters take just 30 seconds to warm from 32 to 68 degrees.
Vastly Richer Interior
The Onvo cabin aesthetic is as modern as a Model Y’s while looking less minimalist. Controls are still centralized in a 17.2-inch central tablet touchscreen, but vital information is presented via a head-up display, and there’s a standard 8.0-inch touchscreen for rear-seat occupants. Both screens meet DCI-3P cinema color standards.
The materials are more upscale—our white vegan leather upholstery was set off with orange stitching and orange seat belts. (It also meets OEKO-TEX Standard 100, ensuring it was manufactured free of allergens and toxins, and it’s treated with silver ions to ensure antimicrobial protection.) The interior is offered in living colors, too, including a dark orange and a light purple (which has reportedly accounted for 40 percent of sales since the L60’s September 2024 launch!).
The L60’s standard features content is also impressive: a panoramic roof (that blocks 99.9 percent of UV light), gaming integration with Nintendo Switch, million-color ambient lighting, and an 18-speaker Dolby Atmos stereo with an impressive microphone reverb result when sampling the karaoke mode (we were pleased to find English lyrics to Kesha’s “Joy Ride” during a charger stop). Five cabin modes accommodate pets, napping, and in-car camping, and there’s an AI personal assistant named Xiaole who wakes up in under 0.3 second, provides control responses within 0.6 second, and supports 30 commands in 20 seconds. That quick responsiveness applies to the touchscreen, as well. The only L60 options are battery size, RWD/AWD, and colors.
How Does the Onvo Compare to the Model Y as an EV?
The L60 is available with two battery options—a 60-kWh lithium-iron-phosphate and an 85-kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt one—good for roughly 230-ish to 300-ish miles of realistic range. They can be charged at home or at one of almost 1,700 destination chargers via a 7-kW AC or 20-kW DC charging. Like Tesla, Nio has built more than 2,600 supercharging stations boasting 12,000 plugs. Nio’s claimed peak charging power for the NMC battery reportedly matches Tesla’s at 250 kilowatts (10–80 percent takes 20 minutes), while the smaller battery tops out at 150 kW (10–80 in 25 minutes). Battery heating means the Onvo charges nearly twice as fast as the Tesla in extreme cold.
Unlike Tesla, either of the Onvo’s batteries can go from almost empty to almost full in three minutes, leveraging Nio’s network of roughly 2,000 third- and fourth-generation battery swapping stations. Onvo also allows customers to buy the car and lease the battery, knocking some $8K off the price. Buyers and lessees can still use the swap stations, giving all Onvo drivers the option to pay for and carry around a 60-kWh battery most of the year, swapping to an 85-kWh pack for a long trip, then switching back when they get home. The battery leasing option has accounted for 70 percent of L60 sales to date.
OSD vs. FSD
The Chinese market is racing toward autonomy, and despite a recent high-profile crash causing the government to tap the brakes on autonomous vehicle testing and deployment, most brands are jockeying to make some level of autonomy just an over-the-air update away for when the green light appears. The Onvo Self Driving (OSD) sensor array bests Tesla’s Full Self Driving, featuring seven 8-megapixel and four 3-megapixel surround cameras (plus one that monitors the driver), a 4D imaging millimeter-wave radar unit, 12 ultrasonic sensors, plus GPS, GNSS, and inertial positioning sensors. Tesla Hardware 4 employs vision only with no ultrasonic sensors or radar units, and 5-megapixel cameras. OSD is designed to provide speed and steering assistance while navigating from point to point, but the driver must keep their eyes on the road and a hand on the wheel (as detected by capacitive sensing). This system is overseen by an Nvidia Orin X chip capable of 254 trillion operations per second (TOPS), but within a year Onvo is likely to upgrade to parent company Nio’s much more powerful (and yet less power-consumptive) homegrown Shenji NX9031 5nm chip.
Note that long before these sensors and chips will enable full autonomy, they will power all the safety systems we know of plus its emergency active steering and braking. Four Chinese insurance companies recently hailed this last system as contributing to a 25.4 percent reduction in accidents among the Nio and Onvo vehicles equipped with it.
Tesla and Rivian have made news with simplified electrical architecture featuring a central-compute/zonal approach, and now Nio is pioneering a similar system that features four domains.
How Does the Onvo L60 Drive?
Our overall impression after a day spent wheeling a rear-drive Onvo L60 around the outskirts of Shanghai was that of a slightly softer, heavier Model Y. As noted, it doesn’t weigh more, but it only has one motor, and all our experience with the Model Y has been in zippier two-motor variants. The Onvo allows a bit more body roll, squat, and dive than Tesla does, though ultimate grip seemed roughly on par in braking and cornering. We were also favorably impressed by its Bosch Comfort Stop braking system, which automatically feathers out the brake pressure just as the vehicle comes to a stop, to prevent head bobbing.
The Onvo Self Driving unilaterally made several automatic lane changes (it can be set to ask permission or not), often to go around a slower motorist on the right, which is frowned upon in the U.S. and absolutely taboo in Europe but is apparently acceptable in China.
The Onvo L60 Costs What?!
Introduced during a Tesla price war, the Onvo L60 opens at just $21,200 for a rear-drive 60-kWh model with battery as a service leasing (at roughly $128/month); $28,350 includes the battery purchase, and $36,300 buys an 85-kWh AWD model outright—that’s $590 less than a RWD Tesla Model Y with a 62.5-kWh LFP battery pack sells for in China. For reference a 78.1-kWh rear-drive Tesla Model Y Long Range, when you could last order one, started at $46,880 here with vastly less equipment and lower-functioning ADAS gear.
Bottom Line
In China, Elon Musk is largely viewed as a superhero for the time being and suffers no political backlash, though an aging product line and the sense that Tesla’s ADAS systems trail the Chinese benchmarks are depressing sales somewhat. Soon the L60 will arrive in Europe. Then we’ll find out whether Musk’s political baggage depresses Tesla sales more than EU tariffs on Chinese EVs erode the Onvo’s price and value advantage.