NIO’s EP9 supercar on display in first HUB in the Netherlands

Chinese premium carmaker NIO is to open on August 8th its first ‘NIO HUB’ in the Netherlands, at a central point in Breukelen (Utrecht) near the A2 highway where all sales, delivery & return services are bundled. As an attention-seeker, NIO is showing exclusively for Europe the EP9 sportscar that established the track record for the fastest EV on the Nürburgring in 2017.

Actual and potential clients can view and test drive in Breukelen the five more down-to-earth models available: the ET5 and ET7 sedans, the EL7 SUV, and the new ET5 Touring and EL6 SUV. Meanwhile, NIO has opened six battery-swapping stations in Holland already to service 188 Dutch-registered cars so far today.

That ‘Battery as a Service‘ (Baas) is still a USP of the brand in Europe, as we could experience ourselves test-driving the ET7. So far, the Chinese brand has sold some 333 000 cars worldwide until June of this year.

One megawatt of output

The NIO EP9 on display in Breukelen was developed exclusively for the race circuit. It delivers a whopping one megawatt or 1 360 horsepower at the wheels and 1 480 Nm of torque. Each wheel has its own 250 kW motor and transmission, called Motor Generator Units (MGUs).

It accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2,7 seconds, to 200 km/h in 7,1 seconds, and to 300 km/h in 15.9 seconds. Richard Hammond, former Top Gear co-host next to Jeremy Clarkson and James May, has found to his cost what that means for their new Amazon Prime show The Grand Tour. The top speed is 313 km/h. 

The car’s body, interior, and chassis are made from 364 kg of carbon fiber, and the battery weighs 635 kg, with the car’s total weight being 1 735 kg. With the active suspension, including a ride height controller, the car generates 2 447 kg of downforce at 240 km/h, like a formula one car.

To stop the car, the brake system was developed with ultra-high quality brake specialist Alcon, featuring Surface Transforms carbon-ceramic discs that provide a brake force double that of a GT3 racing car.

Nürnburgring EV track record

In May 2017, the NIO EP9 lapped the 20,8 kilometers of the famous German Nürburgring ‘Nordschleife’ track in only 06:45.900, setting the record for an entirely electric vehicle for the time being.

Two years later, Volkswagen drove that EV record to smithereens 40 seconds faster with the VW ID.R sports car prototype at 6:05:336. Still, it is a hybrid Porsche 919 that holds the all-time fastest track record, in barely five minutes, 5:19.546 exactly.

Chances you’ll spot an NIO EP9 on the road are nihil, as the car is not street-legal and only 16 are produced by the Chinese carmaker. Six of them were sold to NIO investors at 2,9 million euros, with ten others to be sold publicly. None of the 16 production models is registered outside of China. So to see it ‘live’, NIO’s HUB in Breukelen is your best opportunity.