I drove the NIO ES8 (dual 240 kW motors, 70 kWh battery, 7 seats)

[ebwb]

Hi all, I drove the NIO ES8 and wrote about my experience here:

Off-Ramp: We drive the 643 HP electric NIO ES8 SUV! (Leasehackr Exclusive)

Thought I'd share since we in the US don't get much insight into what's happening in China and the EV ecosystem there. We hear about companies like NIO, Faraday Future, BYTON, etc, but there's never any follow-up or actual reviews of them.

 

[hacer]

It's interesting to see just how many things they copied from Tesla. I think the battery subscription ideas is an interesting innovation to go with battery swapping. I wonder how that will pan out over time.

 

[DOCAL]

I live near their San Jose office, so occasionally see the ES8 driving around.
The exterior looks don't appeal to me, but it's nice to see another serious EV out there, hoping to see more from them.

 

[jaguar36]

Your comment of "Weaker regen is a characteristic of the induction motors that NIO uses" confuses me as the S also has induction motors and has quite strong regen.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Very good write up.
It’s amazing how influential Tesla has been, you can see Tesla DNA in a few places.
It’s also amazing how agile China’s government is.

 

[Kandiru]

Very good write up.
It’s amazing how influential Tesla has been, you can see Tesla DNA in a few places.
It’s also amazing how agile China’s government is.

It is a matter or survival really:

 

[Shock-On-T]

True @Kandiru. I took this photo at Beijing airport last October:

 

[Cheburashka]

Interesting, thanks for the review.

Range seems to be a bit lacking, the interior seems fairly decent.

Reliability, to me, is the big unknown here.

When are they launching in the US?