Something irrelevant to everyday Americans happened, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s frankly pretty neat.
BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme just hit a record-breaking 312 miles per hour on a road in Abu Dhabi. If this sounds completely out of touch, it’s because it sorta is. I’m not sure when the terms “BYD,” “312 mph,” and “Abu Dhabi” will ever apply to the general car-buying public in the United States, but hey, it does show how cool cars can be if you live in China.
So, yeah, very irrelevant.
The BYD that broke physics
BYD’s luxury division, Yangwang, has now broken two Guinness World Records. The first is the single-direction highest speed for a production car and the second is for a production electric car. That’s right. This is not just a crazy concept or track-only car. It hit 312 mph on a public road, after all.
The U9 Extreme, nicknamed U9X, has four electric motors (one for each wheel), creating a whopping 3,000 horsepower. To put that into perspective, a 1990s Mazda Miata has 113 hp, a modern Mustang GT has 480 hp, a Lucid Air Sapphire has 1,234 hp, and a Lotus Evija hypercar has 2,012 hp.
It’s really quite excessive. This whole thing fits into my “does horsepower and 0-60 really matter anymore” rants, which I often reference when I’m thinking about the horsepower of an electric SUV. Like, are we really even impressed anymore? Are we even excited about this? It sorta means nothing now.
Well, to me at least.
Me: Are you impressed that the BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme just hit 312 mph?
My boyfriend: The what?
Me: The BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme.
My boyfriend: Who isn’t impressed by that? I didn’t know it could hit that. I didn’t know tires could take that much abuse.
Me: Yeah, that was actually what I was going to just write about.
How financially irresponsible is it to drive 300-plus mph?
Honestly, when we talk about all these extreme boundary-pushing EVs, I often wonder what the point is. While it’s impressive, is it even practical? Is it even something people want to do?
I don’t think there’s any road where going 312 mph is allowed.
And can anyone even afford to hit 312 mph? When Elon Musk did his fake Tesla Roadster presentation, he kept blabbing about using rockets farting out compressed air to reach 60 mph in under 1 second. But would anyone even want to experience that? And could the tires even survive that?
Well, we now have answers, thanks to the BYD Yangwang U9 Xtreme. The Xtreme uses specialized GitiSport e.GTR2 Pro semi-slick tires with molecular chain optimization, ultra-high-strength fibers, fast warm-up additives, and a bionic sidewall design to handle speeds like 300-plus mph.
These tires were made specifically for high-performance electric hypercars. They have no retail price because they aren’t made for mass-market distribution. However, I’m assuming they are quite expensive. And if you truly wanted to reach 300 mph, you’d probably need to replace these specialized tires at some point.
To keep the vehicle safe at these speeds, it also uses a 1,200-volt battery architecture that can send and receive a huge amount of power. Each motor is also fine-tuned for torque-vectoring control, meaning there is minimal wheel slip at high speeds. Electric dampers also clamp down on squat and dive under acceleration and braking. Active aerodynamics help maintain stability at these speeds. There are a lot of components, and I’m sure they cost a crapton to fix or replace.
The Yangwang U9 Xtreme won’t be as common on the highway as a Tesla or Toyota. They’ll build only 30.
However, these kinds of dramatic feats are more than just useless showboating. They show a brand’s innovation, capabilities, and passion. Sorta like when we get to see badass concept cars. We’re not gonna be driving a U9 Xtreme, but it shows how advanced China’s automakers truly are and how tough it will be for domestic brands to keep up.
I mean, we’re over here waiting for a boring electric pickup truck, for crying out loud. But hey, at least its tires won’t bankrupt a family of four.
