It was only three years ago when Mercedes-AMG shattered the record for fastest all-electric vehicle by running the legendary circuit in under eight minutes, but that is now far behind in the record books moving aside for newcomer NextEV with their NIO EP9 electric car. Seven minutes and five seconds is the new record, making it undeniably the current fastest electric car *cue Clarkson*…in the world.
NextEV is the brainchild of William Li of Shanghai, inspired by the visible smog in the city, sought out to create a greener, electric solution to the problem. Li is the co-founder of Bitauto Holdings Ltd., the largest provider of car-pricing data to Chinese dealers and that is where he made his fortune. While Li is hopeful for his company’s success, he is also quite realistic about it, giving the odds of only 5% of success in a recent Bloomberg interview.
The NIO EP9 shows that the company is off to a very good start and will be quickly turning heads with the new record. It also helps that the NEO EP9 looks staggeringly sexy and has also showed prowess in the Paul Ricard circuit in France with a 1,52.78 lap time. Underneath the hood is a 1360 horsepower beast with four electric motors. It can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 2.7 seconds and can reach 124.3 miles per hour or 200 kilometers per hour in 7.1 seconds. Even the charge time on the NIO EP9 is fast, able to top up in only 45 minutes giving a range of 265 miles.
