Watch the 1,360-HP Nio EP9 Set a Nurburgring Record for Electric Cars

A 7:05 lap makes this battery-powered car quicker around the 'Ring than some serious heavy metal.
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Remember the old high school game, “Seven Minutes in Heaven?” Well, last autumn, NextEV’s electric Nio EP9 supercar played its own version: “Seven Minutes in the Green Hell.” On October 14th, 2016, the battery-powered speed machine blitzed around the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 7:05.12—a lap time that earns it a new ‘Ring record for electric cars. And now, Nio has released video of the 1,360-horsepower supercar taking its borderline-bonkers lap. 

Now, the business of new Nurburgring lap records has been a little contentious lately. Lamborghini has come under fire in recent weeks over allegations that it fudged the video of the 6:52 lap set by the Huracan Performante at the famed German race track. But the video below of the Nio EP9 blasting around the ‘Ring —which forgoes a speedometer for a stopwatch, a map of the track, and a picture-in-picture view of driver Peter Dumbreck pushing the car to its limits—doesn’t trip our B.S. sensors the way some clips do.

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Nio

Honestly, the EP9’s lap time isn’t all that shocking, given the car’s claimed specs. In addition to the four electric motors cranking out a claimed one megawatt of power, Nio says its supercar can generate 5,400 pounds of downforce—twice as much as a Formula One race car—and pull two and a half g’s while taking a turn at 140 miles per hour. (Credit also goes to the 19-inch slicks, each of which is more than a foot wide.) 

Still, that 7:05.12 lap time means the Nio EP9 can outrun some incredible performance cars at the ‘Ring. The Mercedes-AMG GT R, the Nissan GT-R NISMO with N Attack Package, the Lexus LFA Nurburgring, the Ferrari 488 GTB—all of ’em wind up sucking the EP9’s metaphorical exhaust. 

Our only question, then: When can we take this puppy for a spin?