Curated from Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion — Here’s what matters right now:
It feels like only yesterday that the internet was abuzz with the news that Xiaomi – best known for its smartphones, watches and wearables – smashed the electric production car record at Germany’s infamous Nurburgring. The SU7 Ultra beat the formidable Porsche Taycan Turbo GT and the $2.5m Rimac Nevera, as well as shaming the Tesla Model S Plaid, itself a car that embarrassed many dedicated performance brands when it set a blistering time back in 2021. Now Yangwang has performed a similar feat, breaking an EV top speed record by hitting an eye-watering 293.54mph at the ATP test track in Germany. It beat previous records held by the Aspark Owl and the Rimac Nevera. Yup, another blow to the brand whose CEO is now head honcho at Bugatti. The fact that the Xiaomi SU7 bettered a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT on its very first lap around the Nurburgring is mildly embarrassing The Yangwang U9, which is just one model from the high-performance sub brand of BYD, is particularly impressive given its ground-breaking electric powertrain. The Track Edition that set the record features four motors, each of which develops a staggering 744bhp. Total output tickles almost 3,000bhp, while the clever torque vectoring system ensures the majority of this grunt can be delivered to the road by monitoring and adjusting torque to each wheel more than 100 times a second. There’s also a DiSus-X Intelligent Body Control System, which automatically adjusts the suspension system for maximum grip and reduction of pitch and roll. The same tech enables the standard road-going car to leap over potholes. (Image credit: Yangwang/BYD) What’s more, Yangwang says it is pioneering a 1200V ultra-high-voltage vehicle platform in this car, one that has been optimized to handle the sort of extreme battery discharge scenarios experienced during a high-speed record attempt. China clearly has a stranglehold on battery technology and is currently leagues ahead of western automakers in both the chemistry and production capabilities Right now, an 800V system is considered cutting-edge and is enough to see batteries brimmed in under five minutes from the most powerful charging stations. Yangwang didn’t go into any details, but we expect this U9 Track Edition can slurp juice from a MegaWatt charging station at astonishing rates. There is also no word on what the bespoke Track Edition would cost a private buyer, but the ‘standard car’, complete with some 1,300bhp, went on sale in 2024 priced at 1.68 million Yuan (or around $236,000 / £193,000 / AU$400,000). To put that into perspective, that is more than the current Ferrari F80, which cost almost $4 million if you were lucky enough to get invited to buy one. Shifting perceptions (Image credit: Porsche) Despite the impressive feats demonstrated by both Xiaomi and Yangwang, the general sentiment among US and European performance car enthusiasts is that the threat is largely overhyped, that it’s "easy to make electric cars go fast in a straight line" or tha
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Original reporting: Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion