NIO EP9

Disclaimer: For this car, the modability section is out too because cars like these cannot be modded.

Moving away from JDM we have our first car made in Britain and our first electric car and that is the NIO EP9. This is the first non Formula E car ever developed by the NIO Formula E team and they have knocked it out of the park with this car.

Not much is known about this car since it was launched in 2016 but I can tell you that this car is probably the fastest all electric vehicle in the world right now. This car hasn’t participated in any motorsports races although it does hold the world record for the fastest lap by an electric car on the Circuit de Paul Ricard in France, the Shanghai International Circuit in China and the Circuit of The Americas in Texas, USA.

This car is truly a hidden gem because almost nobody, not even seasoned car enthusiasts know about this car so with the vast medium that is called the Internet, i will do my best to give an honest review of this car.

Looks: 9/10

At first glance the NIO EP9 looks more like a concept car than a road car. All those curves and edges makes it look somewhat futuristic, something that’s expected in these types of cars. That’s not to say that the car doesn’t look attractive. By God, the car is beautiful no matter which angle you see it from. It looks like a spaceship almost.

Starting from the back of the car, the rear lights look really similar to that the Renault DeZir rear lights

Both of them are unique in a way that they’re sporty. There is no need for big rear lights like we see in non electric modern day cars. Instead the automakers use a line for the rear lights to give it some sort of futuristic feel. A perk of these rear lights is that they’re so noticeable that it’s quite hard to bump into their rear end when driving , something that happens quite a bit with normal road cars. Above the rear lights is what looks like a hydraulic spoiler to increase downforce when the car goes fast, similar to that of the new Ford GT and the Lamborghini Huracan. It blends nicely with the rest of the car.

Moving toward the sided you can already see that sleek low to the ground design with that pop up spoiler at the back, reminiscent of a true sports car. Apparently the rear wing of the car can be specifically adjusted based on what state the car is in. If parked the rear wing is blended into the back but when cruising the wing is half out. At 250kph, the wing will produce 24000 Newtons of downforce, about the same as an F1 car so the people over at NIO thought this through very well.

Moving toward the front you have a very wide concave hood and the slits for lights. Being an electric car, there is an absence of vents but that didn’t stop NIO from making fake vents to make the car look more sporty. You also have really big wheels wrapped in very thin tires, very reminiscent of the Mercedes-Benz AMG GTR which is known for shredding it’s tires quickly when drifting.

Even though the whole chassis and interior is made out of carbon fiber, it’s still one very heavy car. Including the battery the car weighs a whopping 1735kg, heavier than a Lamborghini Huracan or even your plain old Honda Fit. This means that acceleration is hampered down by the weight and the load on each tire is huge!

Open the gulwing doors and inside you find yourself inside a literal spaceship.

The first thing that catches my eye is those really big bucket seats. It comes with headrest that locks your head into place just like a GT3 car, racing harnesses to keep your body safe in case you crash the car and no armrest.

Interestingly the car has a big screen in the middle to measure lap time, track position and performance data, something you usually see in F1 cars and not on a road car.

The dash screen on the passenger side measures lap time too, top speed, G forces and driver heart rate. That’s some next level technology to measure heart rate.

The steering wheel is a simplified version of the Formula E wheel made by NextEV which further gives that race car vibe to the NIO EP9

I wonder if the feel of all this is going to be like the Aston Martin Vulcan. The feel might be too race car that it’s difficult for people to get inside. the ride height is low so the suspension might be very stiff.

On the plus side the car has gulwing doors so that saves parking space.

Engine Performance (in this case, electricity): 10/10

What would you expect with the car being the fastest electric motor out there.

This car is unique for two reasons. One, it’s an electric motor. Two, it’s a fast bad boy, outrunning most conventional petrol engines. The car has four motors in total, one for each wheel and each motor produces 335.25 hp which is about as much as a stock Nissan GTR.

Do the math and the total number of buff horses this bad boy makes is a mind-breaking 1341 hp. That’s about 340 more hp than the quad turbo W12 engine of a Bugatti Veyron!

Although the engine is quite powerful, it does fall short in terms of top speed. The Bugatti Veyron tops out at around 415 kph while the NIO EP9 tops out at only 350kph which is in fact slower than newer Ferrari’s and Lamborhghini’s. Disappointing in this department. But it’s all saved due to the fact that the car accelerates like crazy, a whopping 2.8 seconds from 0-100kph!

As mentioned before, the car has a chassis entirely made out of carbon fiber. Not only that, the car can switch from all wheel drive to individual wheel drive which lets the car zip through corners like a blue dart.

Performance wise this car is up there, beating the best of the best the motoring world has to offer.

Price: 8/10

The NIO EP9 is an electric car designed for racing by a racing team.

So of course the price is gonna be….. a little much.

Of course 1.2 million Dollars is nothing if you’re Jake Paul and can afford a custom made G wagon but this car is rare. Only 16 of these bad boys will be made according to NIO and in the US and some other parts of the world, the 1000hp has made this car illegal for the roads. So to all the rich gearheads trying to get their hands on one of these bad boys, tough luck. You have a better chance getting struck by lightning.

But the reason why i ranked it so high is because for 1.2million pounds you get a lot. First of all, you get bragging rights with how good the car looks, more than 1000 buff horsies with speeds that make you soil your pants and then pee and of course the most important thing, the power to save the earth from air pollution and fossil fuel depletion.

Overall: 9.5/10

The NIO EP9 is truly the pinnacle of all electric cars, what an incredible machine this is, truly a look towards what the future in motorsports might look like.

The fact that almost nobody knows about this car is pretty sad, it’s probably one of the most underrated car sof all time. Barely any car can match up to this car. But is there….? We might just find out soon enough.