Volkswagen may have set the record for the fastest electric vehicle ever to climb the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year. But its I.D. R Pikes Peak is far from a production model. That honor goes to the Nio EP9.
With racing driver Peter Dumbreck behind the wheel, the Chinese electric supercar set a blistering it of 44.32 seconds in the Final Shoot Out of this year’s Festival. That was enough to not only the fastest production EV ever to climb the hill on the Duke of Richmond’s estate, but the the fifth fastest in the event’s 25-year history.
“When it came to my run in the Shoot Out this afternoon the timing beacon seemed to be down and I had to go back from the line, then go forward and get ready again, so it kind of broke my concentration,” said Dumbreck on the occasion. “But once I got the signal to go, I was pushing very hard and ran just a little bit wide on turn two. It was very dirty and dusty, but it didn’t lose me too much time and I was back hard on the throttle again. From there, I think I did my best top half of the Hillclimb all weekend and I was able to do my fastest run of the event, so I am really happy. It could have been maybe a tenth or two faster, but I doubt that I would have beaten the Pike’s Peak hillclimb car here today, so all in all, we are very happy.”
It was a spectacular European debut for the EP9, which had already claimed the lap record for electric vehicles at the Nürburgring (along with similar records at three other world-class circuits). And it marks a heck of a way for Nio to kick off production of its new seven-seat ES8 crossover, which is just now beginning to reach its eagerly awaiting customers.