Luxury sub-brand of Chinese EV maker BYD rolls out its first supercar Yangwang U9

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD is going places. Just a while ago it became the largest EV maker relegating Tesla of the US to second spot.

And it is pressing forward pretty hard both in terms of technology as well as entering new market segments, the latest being high-performance supercars, with the Yangwang U9.

That one is a bit of a surprise from a company that caters largely to wider market segments, be it passenger cars or commercial vehicles, while most supercars are made by comparatively smaller outfits, especially for the internal combustion engine (ICE) lot. With EVs it is different. Applying performance benchmarks of ICE vehicles to EVs to judge which is a supercar is a bit tricky since even electric SUVs show stonking performance, what with maximum torque available from standstill.

One can quibble about this till the cows come home, but the bottomline is that we have, or at least the Chinese market has, a spanking new supercar on its hands that looks every bit the part. The Yangwang U9 is a Chinese market only vehicle for now, and will sell for RMB 1.68 million (about $234,000 or Rs 1.94 crore) a piece. However, with BYD expanding to Europe, the US, India and so on, it could well become available in these markets soon enough. Deliveries in China will start in summer, BYD has said.

It looks quite decently priced as supercars go, but for a vehicle thats trying to break into that space it’s probably not that low an ask. It has also set the bar pretty high at the performance stakes. The claimed top speed is 309.19kmph and it does the standstill to 100kmph sprint in just 2.36 seconds, which is pretty darn good. And it looks ‘as a supercar should’ as well. With its swoopy shape and a prominent wing fitted, it would display its track-day chops well.

The cabin is stylish and minimal with the driver getting cockpit-like seating

What is rather interesting though, is the technology that underpins all this and allows the Yangwang U9 to perform the way it does. The brand, incidentally, has been created for this supercar EV, probably to differentiate it from BYD, whose other vehicles are very different.

The U9, says BYD, is powered by two core technologies, the e4 platform and the DiSus-X Intelligent Body Control System that are supposed to make it good to drive both on the road as well as on the track. The e4 platform is a power system that has four independent electric motors as its core. This allows precise torque output control independently at the four wheels, equipping the car with what is ideally needed to maximise grip in all kinds of driving situations. This should allow the U9 to put down its whopping 1,300hp power and 1,680Nm of torque on to the tarmac.

Meanwhile, the BYD DiSus-X Intelligent Body Control System, which is essentially a smart suspension system, is being used for the first time, in the U9. It would let the car have a maximum adjustable suspension
travel of up to 75mm, while its peak single-axis lifting speed is up to 500mm per second, enabling instantaneous lifting force of over 1 tonne, allowing the car to literally leap up. That should come in very handy in making things more comfortable in diverse driving scenarios like braking, acceleration, cornering and road impacts. And since this, too, operates individually at each wheel, the Yangwang U9 can be made to do something akin to a dance. It’s an interesting sight, actually.

BYD Seal

Powering the U9 is BYD’s much-vaunted Blade Battery, which not only charges quickly and can support a 500mW charger, but also allows very high energy drainage rates so that a lot of power is available when the car needs to accelerate.

With BYD rolling out its vehicles in India, we are hoping that some of the technology in the Yangwang U9, especially the BYD DiSus-X Intelligent Body Control System, makes it to those. That would make life very comfortable for passengers. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.