Over the years, the Bugatti Chiron SS300+ car has been the fastest production car in the world, holding a 490.5 km/h record. The BYD YangWang U9 Xtreme has now taken it and recorded 496.22 km/h at the Papenburg oval in Germany. The man in the passenger seat was the German racing car driver Marc Basseng, who drove Bugatti on its record run in 2019.
It would also be the first EV to lap the Nürburgring less than 7 minutes, with a lap time of 6:59.157 being set by the U9 Xtreme, which had been a reserve of petrol-powered high-performance cars prior to this.
Powertrain and Technology
The U9 Xtreme features an enhanced 1,200-volt ultra-high voltage platform that is also at the core of high-voltage architectures and is therefore one of the most developed states-of-the-art EV architectures to date.
To give its predecessor an idea, the U9 Track Edition, upon which the Xtreme is based, was powered by an 800-volt system, and thus, the Xtreme takes the limits even further.
Its car is also in quad-motor configuration, and each of its motors delivers 555 kW, thereby producing a total of 2,237 kW (a sum of approximately 3,000hp). Another strength is the huge power that is backed by the new BYD LFP battery technology, which is fast to discharge and can work at a speed of 133% higher due to a superior thermal management system.
Limited Production, Unlimited Impact
BYD has assured that there are only 30 units of the Yang Wang U9 Xtreme to be manufactured; therefore, unlike a performance wonder, it is a collector car to a greater extent. Although its price is yet to be disclosed, it will be among the hottest hypercars to own in the world, owing to its exclusivity and record status.
Why It Matters
YangWang U9 Xtreme is not a mere fast EV, but a declaration of transitioning into the power of EVs. The successful beating of such icons as the Bugatti Chiron or the SSC Tuatara has placed BYD not only in pole position in the race of the hypercar, but demonstrated that, when properly applied, electric energy would not only equal, but even outdo the traditional performance standards.
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