In a bid to convince buyers to shift to electric vehicles, manufacturers are pushing the boundaries when it comes to technology. Nio, the Chinese company which was in the news for the EP9, which claims to be the world’s fastest car has now announced the ES8 SUV, a high-performance rival to the Tesla Model X.
Powering the 7-seater is a dual-motor setup with an impressive 645bhp and a mammoth 840Nm of torque and that will allow the ES8 to sprint to a 100kmph with your family and the dog in a sportscar rivalling 4.4 seconds. While it’s as quick as most sportscars, it makes sure it’s still comfortable thanks to the car sitting on active air suspension.
Now coming to the most important part, the range. Nio is claiming New European Drive Cycle range of a very impressive 355km and an even more impressive 500km range if the car runs at a constant 60km/h, thanks to a 70kWh battery pack. According to Nio, the liquid-cooled lithium-ion pack offers the highest energy density of their kind, and delivers a 2000-charge lifecycle.
For charging the car, Nio will offer home chargers and plans to develop a fast-charge network and Power Mobile, a service capable of delivering 100km of range in 10 minutes. But the real ground breaking tech that Nio has announced is the ‘Nio Power Service’ which is a first of its kind and enables owners to swap their car batteries in just three minutes. The company hopes to have 1100 Power Swap stations and 1200 roaming Power Mobile vehicles in service come 2020.
How effective the technology is in the real world still remains to be seen, but if its anywhere close to what Nio claims, the ES8 is sure to cause a lot of worries to other manufacturers.
