Today, at the Saatchi Gallery in London, UK, electric car company *NextEV unveiled its brand, NIO. NextEV claims that the electric car brand will help users “rediscover the ‘joyful lifestyle’ of car ownership by creating vehicles that deliver superior performance, an aesthetic design and unique user experiences.”
NextEV unveiled its electric supercar, NIO EP9, which set a new lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Last month, the EP9 lapped the 20.8 km ‘Green Hell’ in 7m 05.12s, beating the previous EV lap record, making it the fastest electric car in the world. This month, it broke the EV record at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, recording a time of 1m 52.78s, outdoing the previous record of 2m 40s.
With four inboard motors and four individual gearboxes, the EP9 delivers 1-MegaWatt of power, roughly equivalent to 1300 horsepower. The EP9 accelerates from 0-200 kph in 7.1 seconds and has a top speed of 313 kph. With an interchangeable battery system, the EP9 is designed to be charged in 45 minutes and has a range of 427 kilometers.
The carbon cockpit and chassis is said to be a new approach to performance vehicle design to handle the physical demands of a car with 3g cornering capabilities, with added structural solidity and aero efficiency. The EP9 can achieve 24,000 Newtons of downforce at 240 kph.
The EP9 ha an integrated e-control structure and sensor system layout, which could fit the latest autonomous driving technology. Additionally, it has a “user-friendly interactional design concept, which provides a joyful experience for users with digital interaction and instant sharing.”
“Today we launched our electric supercar that broke the record at the Nordschleife. The NIO EP9 was born to push limits and is the first stage of automotive production for NIO,” said NextEV Founder and Chairman, William Li.
* NextEV
NextEV is a global start-up, designing and developing smart, high-performance, premium electric vehicles. NextEV has recruited thousands of world-class R&D and design experts from around the world with significant technology and management background from leading automobile and high tech companies. It has more than 2,000 employees in San Jose, Shanghai, Munich, London and eight other locations. In October, NextEV USA announced that it was issued an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit by the California DMV and it would begin testing on public roads under the Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program guidelines as it progresses on its path to bring autonomy to market.
Investors include Tencent, Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Lenovo, TPG and others. The company is also involved in the FIA Formula Championship, the world’s first single-seater, all-electric racing series. The NextEV NIO Formula E team won the inaugural drivers’ championship title in 2015.
