Known as BYD’s upmarket premium brand, Yangwang has been slowly making more noise about its presence, and what better way to do it than by setting a new world record?
Undertaken at the ATP Automotive Testing Papenburg in Germany – the site of previous records for Bugattis and other ultra-performance vehicles – the Yangwang U9 Track Edition hit a top speed of 472.41km/h, making it the world’s fastest electric vehicle.
That was enough to dethrone the previous record holder, the Aspark Owl – also from China – which hit 438.73km/h on the same track last year. Both record runs were undertaken by former GT racing driver, Marc Basseng.
“Last year, I thought I’d peaked. I never expected to break my own record so soon – but here we are, at the same track, with new technologies that have made it possible,” Basseng said in a media statement.
Its top speed could have been even higher, had Basseng not encountered instability towards the end of the run, resulting in him backing out of the throttle.
The Yangwang’s EV record also came within touching distance of the fastest verified speed for a production vehicle, currently held by the SSC Tuatara at 474.8km/h.
While the SSC is a rear-wheel drive, twin-turbo 5.9-litre V8 powered monster, the Yangwang U9 Track Edition makes approximately 2220kW in almost complete silence, thanks to its four 555kW electric motors.
However, the Yangwang U9 Track Edition also has a quoted kerb weight of 2480kg, making it almost double as heavy as the SSC Tuatara, and about 500kg porkier than the Aspark Owl.
Based on a 1200-volt platform, Yangwang claims the U9 has “a thermal-management system optimised for extreme conditions”, such as the EV record run.
Yangwang hasn’t yet shown whether the Track Edition can mimic the U9’s unique ‘jumping’ abilities, activated via its suspension system.
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