Wednesday 22nd March 2017

NIO EP9 at the 'ring: Time for Coffee?

Heard the one about the electric car doing 7:05 at the Nordschleife? You have now!

---

The NIO EP9 is a project we've been following with interest at PH, the stats from the news story last year - 1,360hp and 4,671lb ft - almost as exciting as the involvement of ex-Ford man Martin Leach.

Sadly Leach is no longer with us, but the project continues unabated. You may remember NIO claimed a very, very fast lap time at the Nordschleife for the EP9 of 7min 5.120sec back in 2016; rapid by any standards, leave alone an electric vehicle.

Now we have the video to support that lap, recorded last October. And while it may lack some of the drama or noise of other 'ring records, there's absolutely no doubting the speed on show. It's quite hard to be definite without displays, but certainly the Armco and kerb is passing rather swiftly through the Foxhole...

The time set by the NIO is 15 seconds quicker than the previous EV lap record, begging the question of just where the race goes next. Could it be that the production vehicle record is soon held by an entirely electric car?

Watch the video here.
 

[vz-r_dave]

I expected it to be quicker than the latest batch of hypercars tbh. Long live combustion!

Edited by vz-r_dave on Wednesday 22 March 10:54

[V8 FOU]

That is quick.
No gears to shift must contribute a lot to a fast time

[vz-r_dave]

V8 FOU said:

That is quick.
No gears to shift must contribute a lot to a fast time

Given it has instant torque, ridiculous power and no gears it should be quicker imo.

[Dave Hedgehog]

find another 30bhp, premiere pro and get some special tyres, and they are on for a 6.30 lap time!

amazing technical achievement, amazingly dull to watch ZZZZZzzzzzz

[Krikkit]

Almost looks too stiff for the Nurburgring - very twitchy on the bumpy bits and he hardly touches a kerb. Bet they'd shave quite a few seconds off with a softer setup.

[VonSenger]

Krikkit said:

Almost looks too stiff for the Nurburgring - very twitchy on the bumpy bits and he hardly touches a kerb. Bet they'd shave quite a few seconds off with a softer setup.

It needs to be stiff with that many batteries on board. We have a leaf and its very stiff.

[Evoman]

I'm glad I didn't bother to grab that cuppa to sit down and watch that - interesting initially and clearly ridiculously rapid with huge shove of torque like a supercharged large capacity engine. Is it just the sound that makes the viewing boring? It just lacks the emotive sounds of an engine working hard and down shifting with pops and bangs on the overrun, it lacks that sense of engagement with the viewer. Impressive none the less though like a few comments I managed only 2 minutes viewing and went for a coffee elsewhere!

[VonSenger]

Evoman said:

I'm glad I didn't bother to grab that cuppa to sit down and watch that - interesting initially and clearly ridiculously rapid with huge shove of torque like a supercharged large capacity engine. Is it just the sound that makes the viewing boring? It just lacks the emotive sounds of an engine working hard and down shifting with pops and bangs on the overrun, it lacks that sense of engagement with the viewer. Impressive none the less though like a few comments I managed only 2 minutes viewing and went for a coffee else where!

Unfortunately its the lack of noise. I feel the same whenever i watch a video of a fast EV car, pointless with just that whining/whistling and no pops and bangs.

[RumbleOfThunder]

Fantastic achievement that was under-reported at the time. It's no secret that EV's struggle at higher speeds so I think this represents a big leap forward.

[PhantomPH]

Listening to that, it's clearly powered by a small bird of some sort - not batteries. Don't try and tell me otherwise - I can hear the chirping!

[bobo]

sounds like the Victoria line....

Looks like playstation.....

god help us!

[2Btoo]

I must be odd but I thought that the silence of the car made it easier to watch what the guy driving was doing; seeing the lines he took and so on. Not having the engine noise to distract me I also noticed the speed of the scenery more closely, which was informative.

AS I said, I'm probably odd ....

[Hagasan]

It's two polar opposites. The guy driving this in almost serene silence is the same guy that's been driving the Aston Martin Vulcan much of the time....

[anonymous-user]

Technically really cool, but it looks completely sterile.

[JohnoVR6]

vz-r_dave said:

V8 FOU said:

That is quick.
No gears to shift must contribute a lot to a fast time

Given it has instant torque, ridiculous power and no gears it should be quicker imo.

From what I read/ understand, it wasn't running anywhere near the quoted '1,360hp and 4,671lb ft' because of inadequate cooling/ the temperature of the battery cells over the course of a lap round the 'ring.

[Benjo42]

Am I the only one that is baffled as to why the picture of the driver facing camera is totally out of sink from the camera in the car?

At first I was trying to figure out if it was just mirrored as the driver appeared to tilt his head in the wrong direction and also look to the wrong side for the corner the car was going into, then I realised they don't even move together. I couldn't continue to watch after that.

[RacerMike]

I think it's an awesome achievement. And yes....it lacks the audio drama, but powerful EV's have their own appeal. They're a lot of fun actually. For me, there's space for both EV and IC cars, and I don't think the arrival of fast EVs will see the demise of the IC engine entirely....

[Guvernator]

Surprised by the lack of sound, wasn't this the car that sounded like a fighter jet when they initially started showing vids of it or was that just a soundtrack dubbed on later?

If so that's rubbish, surely car manufacturers have to realise that for petrolheads, one of the big things missing from EV's is aural drama and something about it?

[anonymous-user]

Impressive speed but largely irrelevant. How many laps can it do? Call me when it wins the 24 hour.

[anonymous-user]

Guvernator said:

Surprised by the lack of sound...

Lack of sound? That would be a blessing. It sounds horrific.