New photos of the NIO ES8 electric SUV. The final
production car will debut on the Guangzhou Auto Show in November and launch on
the Chinese car market in Q1 2018. NIO is a new Chinese electric vehicle brand
under NextEV. They are also developing the limited edition NIO EP9 electric
supercar.
NextEV doesn’t have its own factory. The ES8 and
subsequent vehicles will be manufactured by a joint venture between NextEV and
the Jianghuai Automotive Corporation (JAC). The joint venture is called
Jianghuai-Weilai, with Weilai being the Chinese name of NIO. Interestingly,
this JAC is the very same company that recently agreed a joint venture with
Volkswagen to develop and manufacture a series of cheap EVs for China, likely
under the Seat name.
Total output is 326 hp and 420 Nm, good for 0-100 in
4.4 seconds. 0-50 is gone in 2.2 seconds. Top speed is 200 km/h but it can
only do this for 1 kilometer with a special boost. Real life top-speed is 180
km/h and this it can do for 30 minutes until the battery runs empty. Range is
355 kilometers (NEDC) and 500 kilometers when an average cruising speed of 60
kilometers per hour (this is a much used non-official Chinese standard).
Battery: 192 Ah/67 kWh.Charging: 8 hours for a full
charge on 220V and one hour for 80% charge on a fast charger. Dimension size at 5022/1962/1753 mm, wheelbase is 3010 mm, and curb weight is a hefty 2460 kilo. It
will seat seven in a 2/3/2 configuration.
Impressive numbers indeed but then it has to have,
as the NIO ES8 will compete head to head with the Tesla Model X. It is
scheduled to hit the Chinese car market in December.
