BYD just set a new electric car speed record of over 290 mph

Yangwang, a sub-brand of the Chinese car company BYD, has just set a new EV speed record of 293.54 mph.

The incredible speed was achieved by a new Track Edition variant of the Yangwang U9 supercar. But instead of merely turning up the power to tease 100-or-so extra horsepower out of the U9’s quad-motor drivetrain, Yangwang has more than doubled the output.

The result is 555 kW per motor and a massive total output of 3,000 horsepower (PS). This gives the Yangwang U9 Track Edition a power-to-weight ratio of 1,217 PS per tonne, putting it well above the performance of almost every other hypercar on sale today. This also puts the U9 some way ahead of the Rimac Nevera R, which recently set a whole bunch of EV performance records and has a top speed of 268 mph.

Although it isn’t clear how many examples of the Yangwang U9 Track Edition will be built, and whether it can truly be classed as a production car, its power output and top speed are both still mightily impressive. It’s the first EV to use a mass-produced 1,200-volt system architecture, which operates at 50 percent higher voltage than any other high-performance EV, like the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT. In fact, many other cars – including all Teslas except the Cybertruck – operate at just 400 volts.

YANGWANG U9 Breaks Global EV Top Speed Record - YouTube

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BYD says how the U9 Track Edition torque vectoring system “continuously monitors road feedback, adjusting each wheel’s torque at an ultra-high frequency that exceeds 100 times per second.” This, the company says, helps to maintain “absolute control over body posture, ensuring no wheel slip or loss of traction.”

The record-breaking run took place at the Automotive Testing Papenburg test track in Germany, with professional driver Marc Basseng at the wheel and the car wearing semi-slick tyres from Giti Tire. The U9’s near-300 mph top speed eclipses the previous fastest EV, the Aspark Owl, by a little over 20 mph.

Only available in China, at least for now, the regular U9 is priced from the equivalent of just £190,000, significantly undercutting other electric hypercars, like the circa-£2 million Lotus Evija and Rimac Nevera.

BYD plans to bring its Yangwang brand to Europe in the coming years. Yangwang also makes the U8, a hybrid, Land Rover Defender-esque SUV with the ability to perform tank-turns and serve as a boat if caught in a flood.