Since the birth of the brand, NIO has become a topic maker. “Formula E championship, fastest mass-produced car in New York, and 3-minute battery swap” have refreshed people’s understanding of it again and again. . However, Weilai, which has attracted much attention, has also been plagued by controversy. "PPT car manufacturing, JAC OEM, and delivery difficulties" have all been questioned it has faced.
The recent topic of "short battery life" has pushed it to the forefront of public opinion. So, does its actual performance live up to the rumors? With the first serious test drive of the Internet celebrity ES8, I, who was also skeptical, tried to get closer to the truth of the matter through actual experience.
Set the air-conditioning temperature to 23°C, air volume 3, and turn on the main driver's seat ventilation (maximum air volume). On a sunny day in Beijing, you can't help but look for a bit of coolness.
Turn on navigation, turn on Bluetooth, play music, turn on seat massage. When the map shows that there is still 140km to reach the destination, you can’t help but treat yourself, the 2 passengers in the car plus 2 backpacks and 1 suitcase. water.
A short section of scenic road + a short section of country road + the smooth Daguang Expressway + the slightly congested Beijing-Chengdu Expressway + the North Fourth Ring Road with an average speed of ≤40km/h, together constitute this short test drive experience . ( and above record the mileage data of 9 ES8s at launch )
The accelerator pedal feels light, but the damping feels very advanced. Thanks to the function of the front and rear dual motors, lightly pressing the accelerator pedal can make this heavy The 2.46-ton big guy jumped out quickly.
Thanks to the unique sense of silent acceleration of electric vehicles and the effect of a single-speed fixed-gear gearbox, the ES8's sense of speed-up is further amplified.
is the same as the pure electric vehicles I have come across before. If the control is good, can completely control acceleration and braking with one pedal. This allows the driver to control the vehicle speed more easily in stop-and-go urban traffic conditions.
But as a 7-seat SUV with astonishing data performance (the total system power is 480 kilowatts, the total maximum torque is 840 N·m), smooth and fast are not enough to describe the dynamic performance of ES8.
Press the accelerator pedal to the bottom, and the driver will be pressed on the seat by a sudden force, unable to move. With the pouring power and unlimited torque output, the driver will be pushed continuously and strongly below 100km/h. The back feeling can even cause temporary dizziness in unsuspecting passengers.
This is an electric car. To be precise, is a high-performance electric car . This familiar acceleration pleasure is very similar to the Tesla I have experienced before, but this kind of balance between daily driving and high performance Is the approach really suitable for ES8?
In terms of suspension, NIO designed a front double-wishbone independent suspension and a rear multi-link independent suspension, and is equipped with an air suspension system that can adjust height and support.
It is worth mentioning that the entire chassis of ES8 is intelligent, and it can be remotely upgraded and iterated through FOTA. In other words, if Weilai has new adjustments to the vehicle in the future, the owner will feel Different vibration filtering properties and driving experience.
During the actual experience, the ES8 chassis improved the driving quality very well. The active air suspension handled small bumps and controlled the car's posture very well. Compared with the Volkswagen Touareg, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes-Benz GLS, and Audi Q7, its air suspension is obviously harder, which brings it good control performance. However, it is not the kind of car that is extremely fun to drive.
Please believe that an automotive media person is in awe of the word "driving pleasure".
If it were BMW X5, I might describe it as flexible, handy, and a certain amount of driving fun. But for the ES8, excluding the pleasure during acceleration, it is difficult for me to associate it with driving fun.
The reasons may be due to various factors such as the steering force setting of the steering wheel, whether the response of the front of the car is flexible, whether the intervention of the kinetic energy recovery system is abrupt, and the tracking performance affected by the length and weight of the vehicle. However, this also leads to the fact that words such as "easy to control and good overall performance" are more suitable for use on ES8.
Having said so much, let’s look back at the final cruising range performance:
Due to time and activity arrangements, this formation driving did not drive the vehicles until they ran out of power, but we can still draw some conclusions from several sets of data Conclusion: electric vehicles are indeed not good at running at high speeds, and ES8 is no exception, and high-speed battery life is not its strong point. In addition, the actual cruising range is related to many factors.
We all know that there are many factors that affect battery life. Factors such as vehicle quality, wind resistance, battery capacity, tire rolling resistance, vehicle configuration, battery condition, driving habits, road environment and climate conditions are all factors that cannot be ignored. If these factors are ignored, hyping battery life will undoubtedly appear ridiculous. .
For ES8, the three-electric technology is not far behind, and even the battery performance is degraded by 20% with three times the number of charge and discharge times than Tesla Model X. The drag coefficient and overall quality of are the key factors. Factors that have a greater impact on cruising range.
Currently only provides 70kwh capacity battery pack, ES8 is more suitable for leisurely walking on urban roads . The good quietness creates an uncontested interior atmosphere. It also makes it the theme of lightly stepping on the accelerator to enjoy the driving experience and comfort only available in electric vehicles. You can travel leisurely through the city, and occasionally The correct way to open the ES8 is to press down on the accelerator pedal.
If we make a statistics on ES8 car owners, I think most of them will use it as the second or even third car in their family.
For most consumers, ES6 with higher battery life and lower price may be the better choice for . Alternatively, it would not be a bad idea to wait for the ES8 to be equipped with a larger-capacity battery pack, reduce the output power, provide a single motor option, or adopt a permanent magnet motor before making a choice in the future.
Because for ES8, at the current stage, it takes into account both home use and high performance, meeting consumers’ needs for large space and comfort, and conveying the NIO brand’s car-making philosophy is its main task. As for battery life, it is not the first priority. . What's more, on the basis of services such as charging piles + battery swapping stations + charging cars + one-click power-up , it is not difficult to maintain battery health at all times.
has a very recognizable appearance
. The design of the segmented LED daytime running lights looks very impressive. The integrated high and low beam LED headlights and fog lights below are separated by a fake grille, which looks very attractive. Aggression.
The suspension design can make the car body have a lower visual center on the one hand, and on the other hand it can also increase the recognition of the model. As the saying goes, it is more cool. There are also blackened A-pillars, B-pillars and C-pillars. The D-pillar separates the colors of the roof and body from each other, and also plays a role in visually lowering the posture. This kind of SUV with a suspended roof will have a dynamic body posture, and this agile posture also makes it easier for them to adapt to the urban environment without looking too eye-catching.
In addition, the mobile phone can also check the charging status of the vehicle in real time.
The interior focuses on technology and comfort
In fact, during a day’s driving, what I saw and used the most was this highly technological interior. I believe that you, like me, were initially attracted to the ES8 in addition to its appearance. More are concentrated here.
When you open the car door, NOMI will turn to look at you and greet you through voice.In addition, it can also identify the passenger in which seat the voice control comes from. For example, if the passenger behind the main driver shouts "Hey, NOMI, open the window", then it will look in the direction of that passenger. And only the left rear window opens.
In terms of space, thanks to the layout advantages of electric vehicles, the storage space of ES8 can be described as " is so big that cannot be used up".
The cup holder in the front row can be used to place mobile phones and wirelessly charge them, and the storage space under the gear lever can completely stuff a down jacket in winter, but serving the hostess's bag and high heels may better reflect its function. Sense of presence. In addition, the vehicle's seating space is basically in line with the performance of a medium-to-large 7-seater SUV.
TIPS: During the test drive, I found that ES8 still has many minor problems, which are summarized as follows:
1, NIO The Pilot function is not activated, and the automatic assisted driving function is not yet available;
2, the window control button will not be able to raise or lower the window when the vehicle is opened for a long time without operation. This can be solved by entering the car again and pressing the brake pedal. ;
3, the manual closing function of the panoramic sunroof fails, which can be solved by controlling NOMI with voice;
4, AUTO The HOLD function will not be activated when the brake pedal is suddenly pressed while driving at high speed and the car is stopped;
5. After turning on the cruise control function, the brake pedal can cancel the cruise function, but the function cannot be canceled after lightly pressing the accelerator pedal;
6. After shifting into reverse gear The reversing image has been unable to be resolved. Lock the car, take away the key and wait 1 minute away from the vehicle.
7. Currently, NOMI cannot recognize dialects such as Cantonese and Sichuan dialect.
8. The radar sound prompt signal is the same as the turn signal. , the function needs to be improved.
later learned that this was because during the ES8 3 million-kilometer road test, due to various reasons, many software-level tests were not followed up in real time. Weilai is currently upgrading the software system at a small iteration rate of 7 days. , I believe these problems will also be solved.
Editor said : Electric vehicles made in China are attracting attention from all over the world. This should be something to be proud of, but they have undertaken too much work to popularize knowledge about electric vehicles and are experiencing pressure and doubts from public opinion. sound.
At present, the doubts ES8 has experienced are not a bad thing. It still has a longer way to go before more consumers can rationally view electric vehicles, charging and swapping services, and truly accept them.
However, after test driving the ES8 and feeling its solid workmanship and materials, as well as its advantages in three-electric system and intelligent interaction, I have reason to believe that with the emergence of the ES6 with longer battery life and lower price , this path of recognition can go smoothly.
