Where a sports car or supercar used to be made up of a few key areas; the engine, the chassis, the styling, and the technology, the engine has seemingly bowed out of the spotlight and been replaced by range and 0-60 mph times.
Before, the sound an engine makes, the way it picks up speed and the gearbox used to both define a car and lend it a certain set of idiosyncrasies, perhaps.
Now, the motor is quiet, dull, and uninspiring, a hidden electrical unit somewhere in the floorpan together with thousands of batteries stuck low-down in the chassis – now we want to know how far it will go on a charge and how quickly it will be able to drag-race against a Tesla Model S.
So, in the journey of innovation, carmakers are coming up with some interesting designs and pushing battery technology to the limit.
Nio, a Chinese car manufacturer from Shanghai has a short but varied history in the realm of EVs - plus some Formula E experience - and of all the models they have either revealed or proposed, the EP9 is the one which really stands out.
The EP9 Is A Well-Designed Piece Of Automotive Art
Much like the new player in the automotive world Lucid, Nio is a relatively fresh face and brings its own brand image and designs from a different angle to the established brands.
When it comes to supercars, though, we have seen that supercar performance is now easily accessible in electric sedans with 4 seats and space for luggage (like the Lucid Air, Kia EV6 Performance, and Tesla’s cars)
As such, classic ICE supercars are on par – or sometimes under par) with sedans like the Tesla Model S when it comes to straight-line speed.
So while internal combustion-engined supercars have met their match in a straight line, electric hypercars are impressive in their superior ability in all areas, not just on a drag strip.
In the case of the Nio EP9, the performance figures are up there with the best.
1340 hp comes from a battery pack which is water-cooled, with a motor on each wheel putting out somewhere in the region of 330 hp at each corner – the equivalent of a 3.6-liter Chevrolet Camaro for each wheel.
What It Lacks In Heritage, The Nio EP9 Makes Up For With Design And Performance
This car which competes on the same playing field as the Rimac Nevera, Pininfarina Battista, Lotus Evija, and Tesla Roadster is down on horsepower against most of these cars which make (or will make) around 2000 hp.
But it’s not just about horsepower or indeed range at this level, it's also capability on the track.
In all, the EP9 weighs 3800 lbs, with the batteries and carbon fiber making up 2200 lbs, this helps the supercar reach 60 mph in 2.7 seconds and onto a top speed of more than 220 mph.
The Nio EP9 was shown off some years ago now on the Nürburgring, finishing a lap in 6:45 in 2017, behind just a handful of hypercars and the Manthey Performance tuned 911 GT2 RS.
It both looks and sounds thrilling as it goes around the Nürburgring, see the above video for the EP9's super-quick lap.
With a production time of just 18 months and no previous experience of producing electric hyper cars, the EP9 is impressive, it shows that it can be done faster than the competition and come out looking great too.