The ongoing debate between extended-range and pure electric vehicle technologies has escalated into a public exchange between executives from two leading Chinese electric car manufacturers.

This follows a recent slogan promoted by NIO Inc. (NIO), which stated, "The endpoint of extended-range is pure electric, and the endpoint of pure electric is battery swapping." NIO Inc. founder, Chairman, and CEO Li Bin has also repeatedly stated in public that a turning point for pure electric vehicles has arrived.

On June 17th, Li Auto (LI) founder, Chairman, and CEO Li Xiang posted on Weibo, addressing recent commentary suggesting a decline in the market share of extended-range vehicles. He argued that pure electric and extended-range vehicles serve different user needs and cautioned against disparaging one technology to praise the other, advocating for respect towards users who prefer having zero range anxiety for long-distance or off-road travel.

Subsequently, on June 18th, Ledao Auto President Shen Fei also posted on Weibo, noting that China's new energy vehicle penetration rate reached 62.9% in May, with pure electric models climbing to a dominant 67% share of that market. He highlighted the unstoppable momentum of pure electric development, while the share of extended-range models further declined to just 7%.

During the launch event for the new Li Auto L8 on the evening of June 23rd, Li Auto Product Line President Liu Jie revisited the topic. He expressed disagreement with the industry narrative that "the endpoint of extended-range is pure electric" and put forward a new perspective, stating, "The endpoint of extended-range is 5C extended-range."

Today, NIO Inc. Vice President Ma Lin posted a brief message on Weibo containing only the words "Thank you," which has been interpreted by observers as an indirect response to the remarks made by Li Auto's President Liu Jie.