Back in October last year, NIO, a sub-brand of Chinese global start-up NextEV, set a new EV lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany. Its best time from two flat-out laps around the famed 20.8km (12.9mi) German circuit was a 7:05.12, eclipsing Toyota Motorsport GmbH’s long-held (since 2012) 7:22.329 lap in its TMG EV P002. Now NIO has raised the bar again, this time dipping well into 6-minute territory.
A blindingly-quick 6:45.90 lap is the new EV benchmark.
Beating its own record by almost 20 seconds is another big milestone for NIO, but it’s not the first this year. In March, the EP9 posted a new production car lap record at Shanghai International Circuit, and in February at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas it set a new world record for the fastest autonomous car.
According to NIO, the EP9’s powertrain, which consists of four inboard electric motors matched to four gearboxes, produces 1 MegaWatt of power, which equates to 1342hp. That mind-boggling number is backed up by its measured performance: 0-100km/h (62mph) in 2.1 seconds, 0-200km/h (124mph) in 7.1 seconds, and a top speed of 313km/h (194mph).
NIO’s first run of EP9s was limited to six cars for NextEV’s investors, but last month the company announced it would be producing 10 more units, all made to order and costing US$1.48 million apiece.
Until the in-car clip of the EP9 lapping the Nürburgring Nordschleife surfaces, you might want to check out the 10-minute video above which takes a look at the birth and development of this cutting edge performance machine.
TheSpeedhunters
Photos: Nio
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
They can't have been coasting on the last sector if that was able to make it to 45s. Which means the batteries are already in enough of a level to last such max-attack use, on race-grade slicks.
I'm struck by how beautifull it is. Dat rear end... hnnnngggg
As a car lover who also understands that gasoline will be gone from practical use soon enough, it's exciting to see that there are those who are not satisfied with what has come out so far in the Hybrid/electric market.
THIS thing LOOKS good, works well, and is FAF...nice work fellas!
The problem with this company's end goal is automation. As an enthusiast I really can't endorse or support a company that's setting out to remove the driver from the performance of the car.
I don't mind so long as I can switch it off!
I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment, but when the gas is gone from practical use sentiment for the combustion engine will be useless except within our minds, unfortunately.
I HATE to think of that day, but will probably see it...but be old enough to not care any longer (or be able to drive).
Alcohol can be easily made and it burns just fine in internal combustion engines. There's a reason the Model T was designed to run on Ethanol. It was originally envisioned before the rise of gasoline/petrol and the established infrastructure and availability of it we have today, that we would essentially be able to make our own fuel by distilling agricultural products.
I wonder if Rimac is close to this level of performance.
I'm surprised the battery lasted an entire lap.
Finally car car we did some work on speedhunters, we design bespoke carbon ceramic discs for any car and designed the carbon ceramic brakes for this beast and helped it to achieve this record, very proud moment for our team here at surface transforms.
But they have changed that track layout to remove 2 high crash areas... of course it will be faster ..
On slicks? Still can't beat a 30 year old 962C. Don't worry, Glickenhaus, Lanzante, Mercedes, and Aston Martin will annihilate this "record" while on street tires
Why is there not a single Chinese guy working for a Chinese company?
One word comes to my mind... BEAUTIFUL. This thing is an electric boss. Electric cars are the new revolution. I wish cars were like cars in videogames. I set a 5:51 on the nurgburgring... That's amazing!