Chinese supercar manufacturer NIO has announced its high end electric EP9 racer has set a new lap time at Munich’s Nürburgring Nordschleife, running the course in six minutes, 45.9 seconds.
NIO’s EP9 is billed as an all-electric supercar, powered by a 1MW power plant. With that much power driving the EP9, NIO says the car can reach a top speed of 194mph and can accelerate from 0-124mph in a neck breaking, g-force inducing, 7.1 seconds.
While this isn’t NIO’s first conquest of the world-famous Nürburgring (the company already held the record for world’s fastest all electric lap set at 7-minutes 5.120 seconds) this latest attempt gave the EP9 the production car lap record.
“In October 2016, we aimed to set a new lap record for an electric vehicle with our NIO EP9,” said Gerry Hughes, Head of Performance Program & FE Team Principal, NIO.
“In the incremental weather that the Nürburgring Nordschleife is known for, the EP9 completed two laps of the 20.8 km (12.9m) ‘Green Hell’, one of which was in 7m 05.12s, beating the previous EV lap record, making it the fastest electric car in the world. The EP9’s new lap record is 19.22 seconds faster than its previous lap time. This is a fabulous achievement for NIO.”
But why’s the Nürburgring such a famous track for laying down records?
Since its inception in 1925, the track has courted the world of high performance motorsports enthusiasts to push the boundaries of varieties of cars. While the track once called on the front-wheel drive, all-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive autos to press the limits of performance, today, the Nürburgring is challenging everything from all-electric to autonomous vehicles to see how fast they can the lap the track.
Just in case you’re curious about what a sub-six minute lap at the Nürburgring looks like, here’s the dash video from the EP9.
For more information, visit the NIO website.