It’s still early days for electric cars but Nio’s EP9, powered solely by batteries and electric motors, has already outperformed the best internal combustion machines.
The stunning track-only supercar on May 12 was driven around the 12.9-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife in a time of only 6:45.90.
That’s a new record for electric cars.
The new time is also substantially faster than the current production car lap record, the 6:52.01 set by the Lamborghini Huracán LP 640-4 Performante last fall.
Nio EP9 clocks a 6:45.9 Nürburgring lap time on May 12, 2017
All Nio is willing to state is that weather conditions at the ‘Ring were much more favorable during the second attempt compared to last fall when the EP9 clocked a 7:05.12 lap.
The EP9 is a two-seat, carbon fiber supercar with four electric motors delivering a combined 1,342 horsepower and 1,091 pound-feet of torque. It’s capable of 0-60 mph acceleration in less than 2.7 seconds and a top speed of almost 195 mph.
Its batteries provide a range of 265 miles, albeit during ordinary driving only. It’s not clear how they will perform during prolonged track time.
Nio originally planned to build just six examples but recently decided to build 10 more, each priced from $1.48 million. It’s not clear if any will end up in the United States.
