The 1360PS / 1341bhp Nio EP9 broke the Nurburgring lap record and is considered the fastest electric supercar on the planet. Fancy a tour behind the scenes?
“On paper, a lunatic project. Really short time, completey to the edge of the envelope in terms of what was possible.”
Just to give you an idea how steep the challenge was for Nio, the latest brand from electric car company NextEV when it started development on its first ever road-going model, the EP9. That the newboy would help potential customers ‘rediscover the joyful lifestyle of car ownership’ remains to be seen. What is beyond question though is the performance potential of the Nio EP9, now considered the fastest electric supercar on the planet after smashing lap records at both the Nürburgring and Paul Ricard.
Earlier this year, the EP9 posted a 7m 05.12s laptime around the 20km Nürburgring, its 1m 52.78s laptime at Paul Ricard more than ten seconds faster than the previous EV supercar could manage. Testing was conducted under the due diligence of the NextEV Formula E teams and with the help of team drivers Oliver Turvey and Nelson Piquet Jr. We recommend you check out the video above to see how the team prepared for both of its white-knuckle runs.
So, what’s the secret behind the volcanic turns of pace. Power, actually, and really quite a lot of it. Four inboard motors and four individual gearboxes are connected to each of the four wheels independently, and produce 1-megawatt of power (approximately 1360PS / 1341bhp). Acceleration from 0-200kph – the guys clearly aren’t messing around here – is taken care of in just 7.1 seconds, and the top speed is a screaming 313kph. Add a carbon fibre cockpit and chassis, an active rear wing like the McLaren P1, plus the possibility of 24,000 Newtons of downforce at 240kph, and the ‘lunatic project’ doesn’t disappoint.
