This is in actual fact the second-generation EL6; the unique one by no means made it out of China.

Styling clever, it’s arduous not to attract comparisons between the brand new EL6 and the super-smooth, computer-mouse styling that Tesla has made its personal, though there’s greater than a touch of Hyundai on the entrance, too.

Sleek and inoffensive but generic nearly sums it up, though that digital camera housing above the windscreen is distinctive, if maybe not in a flattering approach. Taxi, anybody? 

Underneath, it will get extra attention-grabbing. The EL6 relies on the corporate’s new NT2.0 (brief for Nio Technology 2.0, in case you have been questioning) platform, full with two battery choices: a 75kWh or a 100kWh pack, that are good for a variety of 252 or 329 miles respectively.

Charging is capped at 140kW for the smaller-battery automotive, 180kW for the bigger-battery mannequin that we drove, which is a approach off Tesla, Hyundai and Kia however nonetheless roughly on par with many different EVs.  

However, Nio additionally has its patented battery-swap tech, which permits the EL6’s battery to be modified out for a contemporary, absolutely charged pack in round 5 minutes at one in all Nio’s roadside battery-swap stations. There are 120 of those deliberate for set up throughout mainland Europe, and the corporate intends to have a number of within the UK forward of its launch – though we will’t assist however really feel that the UK’s notoriously awkward street infrastructure and planning legal guidelines may show one thing of a problem. Good luck to them, although.

The firm has simply reached the milestone of 30 million battery swaps because it launched the system in 2017, so these stations are clearly working nicely in China.

The EL6 will get a 201bhp induction motor up entrance and a 282bhp everlasting magnet electrical motor on the again for everlasting four-wheel drive and a mixed output of 483bhp.

There’s additionally commonplace Intelligent Chassis adaptive damping, which might make 500 changes per second, and no fewer than 9 driving modes.

Notably, this newest platform additionally brings 33 ‘sensing units’, one long-range lidar and 4 Nvidia Drive Orin X chips for computing energy of 1016 trillion operations per second. Yes, trillion.

If you have been in any doubt that we have been deep into ‘tech before automotive’ territory with EVs, you aren’t any extra.