By PAN Tao

Niutron has become the latest Chinese EV hopeful to go to the wall. The venture, founded by ex-Biadu CTO LI Yinan, has come nowhere near to making a car. Niutron’s app and website have stopped operation.

Li has a substantial reputation in China’s tech sector. The former Huawei VP was CTO of Baidu and a founding member of VC GSR Ventures.  

Li began putting together his EV team in 2018, just after his scooter project Niu Technologies made its Nasdaq debut. Niu became the world’s leading provider of smart urban mobility solutions, designing, manufacturing and selling high-performance smart electric scooters.

Four years later, new entity Niutron revealed the designs for its first car, an electric SUV to be priced at around 300,000 yuan (US$43,500). At the time Niutron said more than 20,000 orders had been placed.

China has tightened regulations on automobile manufacturing qualifications over the past few years. Deals with OEMs and acquisition of qualifications through JVs and partnerships have been affected. As technology startups with no manufacturing capacity of their own, most aspiring EV makers choose to match up with established car makers.

Dorcen Automobile Group, the auto manufacturer that Niutron paired up with, has been unable to produce anything due to business difficulties since 2019.

According to the regulations, NEV production lines that have stood idle for more than two years need to be re-verified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology before restarting production. Dorcen failed to pass the ministry assessment. Plans for mass production of Niutrons were put on hold.

Just when everybody was expecting another big beast to storm the EV party, Niutron released an open letter in early December, offering the customers full refunds if their cars could not be delivered on time.

When news of the Dorcen debacle broke, Niutron acted quickly, sacking a good number of sales and production staff. These measures may help rescue the company’s financial position but do little to actually make cars.

Li did not achieve his previous success without overcoming many setbacks, and the entrepreneur has been intensely lobbying other automakers to make his cars for him, apparently without success.

In February, a Niutron prototype was reportedly spotted in the headquarters of state-owned automobile manufacturer Chery. Chery has been the top exporter of passenger vehicles in China since 2002 and shipped 450,000 vehicles overseas in 2022. The automaker has denied any possibility of a partnership with Li’s venture.

Now with Niutron closing its app and website, the last light at the end of the tunnel for Li seems to have gone out.