Unveiled this week at the Saatchi Gallery in London, electric car company NextEV has unveiled its new brand, NIO. The brand was created in an attempt to help users ‘rediscover the joyful lifestyle’ of car ownership by creating a new breed of high performance vehicles who set a benchmark for ‘aesthetic design and unique user experience.’
Not only did NextEV reveal the brand, but also its electric supercar and by the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like a bad start for the company. The NIO EP9 has been dubbed as the fastest electric car in the world after it broke the EV lap time record at the Nürburgring Nordschliefe, completing the 20.8km circuit in just 7mins 5.12 seconds.
This extreme performance comes from four inboard motors with four individual gearboxes, combining to create 1-MegaWatt of power, equivalent to 1341bhp. 0-200kph is dealt with in 7.1 seconds whilst it can reach a top speed of 194mph. All of this extreme electric performance doesn’t mean it will be unusable in the real world, however. An interchangeable battery system means the EP9 can be charged in just 45 minutes and has a range of 265 miles.
Each NIO EP9 costs the company $1.2million to make, according to NextEV. Six of the cars will be shipped to China where they will be doing thrill-ride demonstrations around the Shanghai Circuit before their new premium electric saloon, the ES8, launches in China in 2017.
Engineering Chief, Gerry Hughes said, “We are using many British partners and expertise derived from the Formula E on the EP9.”
As for the ES8, meaning electric saloon, a factory capable of producing 100,000 examples is currently being setup, with European sales currently not confirmed, but remain a possibility and is being marketed in China as an alternative for BMW and Audi buyers.
