EVwire brief: BYD's Yangwang U9 Xtreme, the electric hypercar that holds the title of the world's fastest production car, has crashed during a high-speed run on a closed track in China, with the driver walking away unhurt.
Video and photos released on November 2 show the U9 Xtreme drifting off its line at high speed and slamming into a barrier, with the impact tearing the car's rear axle completely off. The body took severe damage, but the driver reportedly climbed out of the car on his own.
The crash reportedly happened during a test run toward the 500-kilometer-per-hour (311-mile-per-hour) mark, a threshold BYD plans to attempt in the UAE this November.
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The Yangwang U9 Xtreme’s performance during its high-speed crash earned praise from the EV community, with some stating that the hypercar demonstrated Formula 1-level safety. For context, F1 cars are the fastest vehicles around a track, and they are known to keep drivers safe even in high-speed crashes.
Here's a look at the crash and its aftermath:
Context:
The U9 Xtreme is built for exactly this kind of speed. The quad-motor hypercar sits on BYD's 1,200 V silicon carbide platform, with a combined peak output of 2,220 kW (2,977 hp) and a power-to-weight ratio of 895 kW (1,200 hp) per metric ton, all fed by an 80 kWh battery with 30C discharge capability.
It became the world's fastest production car by hitting 496.22 km/h (308.34 mph) at Automotive Testing Papenburg in Germany, running on 20-inch dual five-spoke wheels, GitiSport e·Gtr2 Pro semi-slick tires and a special aero kit with a large rear wing.
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The next target is to push past 500 km/h (311 mph), a plan first disclosed by BYD vice president Stella Li and later confirmed again by Hu Xiaoqing, general manager of Yangwang's sales division, with the run set to take place in the UAE in November. Yangwang has leaned on extreme tests to show off its tech before, recently putting its U7 sedan through a 30,000-km (18,600-mile) flash-charging endurance run.
Source: CarNewsChina, YOUCAR on YouTube
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