Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio launches a smartphone at an event in Shanghai on Sept. 21, 2023. Evelyn Cheng | CNBC SHANGHAI — Chinese electric car brand Nio on Thursday released an Android smartphone, which the company expects at least half its users to buy, CEO William Li told CNBC in an exclusive interview ahead of the launch. The phone, priced from around $900 to $1,000, is an Android device that's about $150 cheaper versus a comparable Huawei phone, Li said in Mandarin. He told CNBC that among Nio users from which the company makes a profit, more than half…