Earlier in the year, BYD officially launched its first electric supercar, the two-door U9 under its Yangwang luxury brand. Now, this very model has been tested to reach speeds of 375 km/h, well above the original claim of 309 km/h.
Video of the test was shared by BYD and picked up by Chinese car market analyst ThinkerCar on X. It shows the U9 in mild track weather conditions of 25 degree Celcius with 57% relative humidity.
A silver U9 exits a garage and comes to a stop on this multilane track before a professional race-car driver takes it around a ring-like track.
A third-party vehicle tracker shows the car exceeding speeds of 280 km/h followed quickly by 347 km/h and then finally hitting 375.12 km/h.
#BYD Yangwang U9's high-speed test reached 375.12 km/h pic.twitter.com/psebFlx9eN
— ThinkerCar (@thinkercar) August 13, 2024
On the company’s official Weibo page, Yangwang shared the milestone with the translated post saying; “375.12km/h, Yangwang U9, The speed record is refreshed again, the ultimate, not just this.”
This is a phenomenal achievement which, according to BYD’s previous specifications, is over 65 km/h faster than the top speed it shared in February.
The U9 is powered by a quad-motor powertrain, with each of the four motors producing 240 kW. This helps it reach a maximum power output of 960 kW and 1,680 Nm of torque. That’s the level of performance that has helped deliver the new top-speed milestone around the track.
All that power is combined with class-leading acceleration in the brand’s lineup. The U9 can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in just 2.36 seconds, making it the fastest-accelerating BYD vehicle.
The U9 is equipped an 80 kWh BYD blade battery pack that’s capable of delivering up to 450 km of CLTC range which of course in the real world is likely to be closer to 370 km on the WLTP range.
This supercar also supports the company’s latest 800-volt architecture with dual input fast-charging capability. This helps the car charge from 30-80% in just 10 minutes.
The U9 has been making its rounds and was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last month.
BYD Yangwang U8 U9 at Goodwood UK pic.twitter.com/9OTQah56Ej
— CCL (@CCL2K30) July 21, 2024
Two Yangwang U9’s were also recently spotted testing at the famous Nürburgring test track so it’s expected that an official time around the track will be shared in the coming weeks.
Previously, the fastest EV to lap the track had been the Rimac Nevera which lapped the track in 7 minutes and 5 seconds. The Nevera has a top speed of 412 km/h.
The U9 has a starting price of over 1.098 million RMB, or $A232,064, and it’s now making its way to showrooms across China.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.