Electric supercar the Nio EP9 scorched around the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany in a record six minutes and 45.900 seconds.
Saturday’s run was not only the fastest for an electric car, it also beat the production car record.
The Nio EP9 already held the lap record of seven minutes 5.12 seconds for an electric car – set last October – around the 20.8km “Green Hell” circuit.
But Nio says it did two laps in bad weather and wanted a chance to try again in better conditions.
The EP9’s new lap record is 19.22 seconds faster than its previous lap time. “This is a fabulous achievement for Nio and I am very proud of the team that has worked tirelessly to achieve this accolade,” Nio performance head Gerry Hughes says.
It beat the Radical SR8LM’s time of 6:48.0 and the 6:52.01 set by a Lamborghini Huracan Performante.
The Nio’s 1-megaWatt of power is equivalent to 1360PS (1342 bhp) and it has a top speed of 313kmh. The EP9 accelerates from 0-200kmh in 7.1 seconds and it has broken or set new track records at four world-renowned racetracks.
Last month, Nio announced plans to produce a second batch of ten EP9s, and each one will be made to order. The car is priced at US$1.48 million (A$1.99m).
The company aims to have autonomous electric vehicles in the US market in 2020.
Also last month, Nio unveiled the Nio ES8, a full size seven-seater all electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) that it will launch for the China market later this year.
“As a company, we were born to push limits,” Nio US chief executive officer Padmasree Warrior says. “Setting and breaking records with our EP9 is for the sole purpose to show the world that we have the automotive and technical expertise to succeed in the global automotive market.”
