Steven Millward · · 3 min read

Another Chinese startup just revealed another pointless electric supercar

Inside the NIO EP9, revealed today. It won't come cheap. Photo credit: NIO.

Inside the NIO EP9, revealed today. It won’t come cheap. Photo credit: NIO.

If you want a new car right now, there aren’t many electric options available at a reasonable price. And electric car startups aren’t exactly helping this by launching totally unobtainable EV supercars. The latest to do this is China-based NextEV, which today showed off the insane NIO EP9, one of the quickest cars on the planet.

It comes 11 months after China-backed Faraday Future showed off an electric supercar concept that’ll probably never even go into production.

NextEV, which this evening showed off its rebranding as NIO at a launch event in London, hails the EP9 as the quickest electric car on Earth. Packing a brutal 1,340 hp, it has more than twice the power of the notably quick and pricey Tesla Model S P90D.

Photo credit: NIO.

Photo credit: NIO.

Photo credit: NIO.

Photo credit: NIO.

NextEV is planning a production run of just six models, reports AutoExpress today, each costing US$1.2 million.

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The price tag: US$1.2 million.

The EP9, like Faraday’s vaporware concept, might be a stopgap before the company can build up its know-how and manufacturing capacity to build a more affordable sedan or SUV that you’ll actually be able to buy. But until then, this supercar is essentially pointless.

NextEV – or NIO, as we apparently should be calling it now – is the brainchild of Chinese tech entrepreneur William Li, who made his fortune with a car sales website. His startup has cash from Tencent, China’s biggest social media and gaming company.

The EP9 is the fastest electric car around the terrifying Nürburgring Nordschliefe track, said the company today. It posted a lap of 7:05, beating the EV record of 7:22, posted by the non-road-legal Toyota Motorsport EV P002.

Photo credit: NIO.

Photo credit: NIO.

With its funding reserves, the startup is seeking to start work on a US$465 million factory in China, both for the nutty EP9 and for future, more affordable models. The firm – which races in the electric-only Formula E series – says it’s aiming at 280,000 vehicles per year in future, which would eventually put it on par with what BMW produces each 6 weeks.

For now, that’s a long way off. And as Faraday’s recent cash troubles attest, there’s a long and winding road ahead.

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NIO (蔚来汽车)

NIO is a Shanghai-based Chinese company that makes electric vehicle.

Location
China
Founded
2014
Employees
501 – 1,000
Website
www.nio.cn
Latest Funding
Strategic investment
Hiring
0 positions
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Community Writer

Steven Millward

Interested in ecommerce, social media, gadgets, transportation, and cars. If you have any tips or feedback, contact via Twitter: @sirsteven

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