BEIJING — Nio’s biggest challenge right now is making sure that supply chains are stable, CEO William Li told CNBC.

The Chinese electric carmaker has had to charge customers more due to soaring prices of raw materials.

When Covid controls in April prevented Nio’s from getting parts from suppliers,the company had to temporarily suspend production. But the company said it was able to restart some production a few days later.

Still, as of Thursday, Li still described the overall state of auto production in China as in the process of recovery while Shanghai and other parts of the country remain under Covid controls.

On the sales front, Li said he expects consumer demand for electric cars to persist — even if the Chinese government reduces subsidies or other policy support for the sector.Nio delivered more than 5,000 cars in April despite Covid restrictions, albeit down sharply from nearly 10,000 vehicle deliveries in March.Passenger car sales fell by 35.5% year-on-year in April, but new energy vehicles — which include battery-powered electric cars — saw sales surge by 78.4%, according to the China Passenger Car Association.But Li said Nio plans to export cars to Southeast Asia and open a research and development center in Singapore in the near future for artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. He did not provide specific dates.网页链接$比亚迪(SZ002594)$