SHANGHAI, April 14 (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle

(EV) maker Nio's founder called for openness in a rare speech in

the United States, where politicians have been seeking to

further restrict China's access to the world's second-largest

auto market.

William Li, speaking at an event at Harvard University on

Saturday, said rapid EV growth in China resulted from an "open

and competitive" market where "all products are welcome

regardless of their brands or origins".

He cited Tesla's success in China, where

billionaire Elon Musk's automaker has sold 1.36 million EVs in

the past three years, adding its presence boosted EV penetration

and energised the industry.

"Competition will lead to greater investment, longer time to

break even, less margin for mistakes and lower chances of

success," Li said, according to a transcript of his speech

provided by the company.

"However, we do not expect China to adopt policies to

protect domestic players because we also see the other side of

the coin, where openness will ultimately benefit industries and

sustainability, and make the best companies even better."

Tensions are rising between China and the West over Chinese

EV exports, which Washington and Brussels say are heavily

subsidised by the state and could harm domestic automakers.

A European Union is investigating Chinese EV makers such as

BYD, Geely and SAIC could lead

to tariffs over the subsidies.

Few Chinese-made EVs are sold in the U.S. market, where they

already face steep tariffs. China's biggest EV maker, BYD, said

it had no plans to sell its cars into the country.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is considering raising

tariffs on Chinese EVs, auto executives have told Reuters.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Sherrod

Brown have highlighted concerns over cheap Chinese EVs,

including on national security grounds.

Li has said Nio was studying the feasibility of

selling into the U.S. on a quarterly basis. In the Chinese

market, with a lineup priced from 298,000 yuan ($42,000) for the

premium segment, the automaker sold 30,053 EVs in the first

three months, compared to 132,420 vehicles sold by Tesla.

($1 = 7.2371 Chinese yuan renminbi)