In a major development, Chinese automobile company Nio has developed an electric vehicle (EV) battery that could allow electric cars to travel around 1,000 kilometres, Business Insider reported.

Nio CEO William Li tested the performance of the battery by driving for 14 hours on a single charge between two Chinese cities. His test-drive was live-streamed in which he drove 1,044km from Shanghai to Xiamen on December 17.

Li, who has gained a reputation as China’s Elon Musk, claimed in a post on the Chinese social media site Weibo that his Nio ET7 electric car battery had 3% charge remaining despite him travelling the 14-hour journey without recharging in a cold weather.

The car was powered by Nio’s 150 kWh battery, which according to Li has the highest energy density of any mass-produced EV battery on the planet.

A rival to Musk’s Tesla, Nio plans to begin mass-production of 150 kWh batteries in April this year.

However, the cost of the battery is exorbitant as the company said that it will be priced at 298,000 yuan ($42,100), the same price as a Tesla Model Y in China.

It is pertinent to mention that Nio customers are allowed to buy its cars without a battery. They can pay a monthly subscription fee to access Nio’s network of more than 2,000 battery swap stations across China, where they can exchange dead batteries for charged ones.

According to Nio President Lihong Qin, the company is losing $12,000 on every car it makes despite its bold strategy.