GRR

Video: Watch the NIO EP9 electric supercar smash the Nürburgring

16th May 2017
Bob Murray

It’s the quietest lap of the Nordschleife ever, but one thing is for sure. It’s is also the fastest by a road-legal car. If you have ever doubted the performance capability of the electric car watch this silent-but-deadly video…

 

On May 12th the new wannabe poster boy of the electric car market NIO unleashed its EP9 on the Nürburgring in a second attempt at taking the spoils. Just 6min 45.9sec later it had completed the tortuous 12.9 miles to reassert its hold on the electric car record – and this time to set the outright fastest time for a road-legal car.

It beats the long-standing mark set by Radical with its SR8LM, famously driven to the Nürburgring from the UK for its record attempt in 2009. The Radical’s time was 2 seconds slower – and its lap a great deal noisier – than the NIO’s.

Now, only racing cars – headed by the Porsche 956 – are quicker around the Nordschleife than this battery-powered two-seater. 

Accompanied by nothing more than a faint whine, the EP9’s one megawatt of power (that’s equivalent to 1342bhp) and all-wheel drive delivers otherworldly acceleration, as the rate at which the Green Hell flashes by outside the windows in this in-car video clearly shows.

It would be good if the vid had a speed readout but, really, you don’t need one to tell just how phenomenally quick the car is. NIO says the EP9 can sprint from 0-124mph in 7.1 seconds on its way to a 194mph top speed. The car was 19 seconds quicker than its last (damp) ‘Ring run. 

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And to put that into perspective, its time is a whole minute quicker than last month’s ‘Ring record in the front-drive class by the Honda Civic Type R, see a video of that here.

Performance head at the global start-up Gerry Hughes said: “This is a fabulous achievement for NIO and I am very proud of the team that has worked tirelessly to achieve this accolade.” 

So now you want a NIO EP9 of your own? Well, you can have one. The China-based company has announced plans to build a second batch of 10, each made to order and priced at US $1.48 million.

And if that’s too rich there’s the NIO ES8 on its way – a full-size electric seven-seat SUV to be launched later this year. It’s sure to be as quiet as the new ‘Ring record holder but maybe not quite as fast…

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